Informed Consent

Before giving medical treatment, healthcare professionals must obtain your informed consent. "Informed consent" is a term used to describe a person's agreement to allow medical treatment to be given based on full disclosure of the facts necessary to make an intelligent decision.

In order for you to give informed consent, you must understand what the proposed medical treatment entails, what procedures will be performed, whether medications will be administered or surgery will be performed, what if any alternatives are available, as well as what the potential risks or complications and side effects may be.

In the event you are prevented from giving your informed consent because of a physical or mental condition, healthcare professionals may proceed with your care and treatment in your best interests without your informed consent.

You can designate someone to make your healthcare decisions for you if you are no longer able to by obtaining a health care directive or living will. An attorney can assist you in preparing this document.

If you have questions and concerns about healthcare directives, living wills, or a durable power of attorney for healthcare, please contact the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma office of Stipe Injury Law today to schedule a consultation to discuss these very important documents that can give you peace of mind in the future.

Preventing Nursing Home Abuse

It is possible to prevent nursing home abuse using a combination of strategies to protect vulnerable older adults. Many nursing homes do provide quality care and are staffed with decent, dedicated and hard working people, but some older adults may find themselves in less than ideal conditions which gives us cause for concern.

Caregiver's education and training in managing difficult resident care situations, problem solving, conflict resolution, stress management techniques, dementia care and witnessing and reporting nursing home abuses should be supported and encouraged.

Work conditions for caregivers should include adequate staffing, enhanced communication between administration and direct care givers, competitive salaries and greater recognition, respect and acknowledgment of the difficult work nursing home staffers do on a daily basis.
It is also important to be sure hiring practices in nursing homes include stringent screening of prospective employees for criminal backgrounds, a history of substance abuse or domestic violence and examine their true feelings about elder care and their ability to manage their anger and stress levels.

Even the most diligent strategies cannot prevent some abuses in nursing homes from occurring. If you feel someone you care about has become the victim of nursing home abuse despite all efforts to prevent this from happening, please contact Stipe Injury Law in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma today to learn what you can do to prevent this from happening again, and to obtain justice for your loved one.

Psychiatric Malpractice

Psychiatric malpractice is defined as misconduct on the part of a psychiatrist or failure of the psychiatrist to provide a certain standard of care and treatment for their patient. Statistics reveal that over 25% of American adults suffer from a diagnosable mental illness at any given time, so it is very important that high standards need to be held by psychiatrists. When these standards are compromised, allegations of psychiatric malpractice may be the result.

Some forms of psychiatric malpractice can include the failure to diagnose accurately, the failure to treat appropriately, medication errors, physical, mental or emotional abuse of the patient, breach of privacy and sexual abuse.

Since the ultimate goal of a psychiatrist is to treat people's minds and emotions, extreme caution must be taken in the care and treatment of their patients. A misdiagnosis or medication error can result in catastrophic consequences with a patient's life hanging in the balance.

Most psychiatrists study for many years and work long hours under the most stressful circumstances, however if there are unscrupulous members of the psychiatric community that need to be held accountable for their actions.

If you feel you have been a victim of psychiatric malpractice, do not be victimized again. Please contact Stipe Injury Law in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma today to schedule a confidential consultation with our experienced psychiatric malpractice attorneys to protect your legal rights and find out whether you are entitled to financial compensation for your pain and suffering.