Before treating you, a Delaware provider must give you the information a patient needs to actually decide: the material risks, the alternatives (including doing nothing), and what the proposed treatment involves. A signature rushed onto a form in pre-op is not informed consent — it is paperwork. When an undisclosed risk materializes, or a procedure exceeds what you agreed to, you may have a claim even if the procedure was performed competently.

Informed Consent Claims: Key Facts

  • The form is not the consent: The question is what you were actually told, when, and whether you had a real opportunity to understand and ask.
  • Material risks and alternatives: Undisclosed serious risks and unmentioned less-invasive alternatives are the core violations.
  • Scope violations: Procedures beyond what was authorized – additional organs, different approaches, substitute surgeons – raise consent claims and sometimes battery claims.
  • Delaware framework: Informed consent claims are governed by Delaware’s medical negligence statutes (18 Del. C. ch. 68), including the affidavit of merit and deadline rules.

What These Cases Require

We prove what was disclosed (consent forms, clinic notes, witness accounts), what should have been disclosed (expert testimony on material risks), and that a reasonable patient informed of the risk would have chosen differently. The last element is where these cases are won – context like available alternatives and the elective nature of the procedure matters.

Related: Medical Malpractice, Surgical Errors, Anesthesia Errors.

Informed Consent FAQs

I signed the form. Is my claim dead?

No. Forms are evidence, not immunity – especially generic forms signed minutes before sedation, or forms that never mentioned the specific risk that harmed you.

The surgery went fine but they did more than I agreed to. Is that a claim?

Exceeding the authorized scope can be actionable even without negligent technique, unless a true intraoperative emergency justified it.

Does informed consent apply to medications too?

Yes – high-risk medications carry disclosure duties about serious side effects and alternatives, particularly for long-term therapies.

Never told about the risk that changed your life? Call (302) 297-7775 for a free consultation.