Doctors and hospitals who voluntarily obtain informed consent for a procedure that does not require such consent may reconsider the practice in light of a recent federal district court opinion.
The Good Samaritan Doctrine, codified in Section 323 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts, can support a negligence action against doctors or hospitals who “gratuitously” undertake the obligation to obtain a patient’s informed consent, federal district court Judge Thomas N. O’Neill Jr. said in Kotofsky v. American Red Cross.
