The healthcare field, like any other, needs a regulatory tool like the liability waiver because without a properly worded document even the slightest medical error can ruin a practice. It is a release of liability, which means that its use is applied so that patients can confirm that they will not file a lawsuit if something goes wrong during the procedure. However, it excludes gross negligence or malpractice.
Generally speaking, a medical liability waiver is an advance written notice to the beneficiary that is used by healthcare providers in situations where the services provided are not medically necessary. It must be signed by the patient or his/her legal representative.
Concept of a Medical Liability Waiver
A Waiver of Liability is a legal document in the form of an agreement whereby the party who signs it takes certain actions: waiving the right to file a lawsuit in the event of an accident and releasing a person or entity from legal liability. However, for both of these actions to be valid, the waiver must explain the risks involved in the action, and the signatory must be given time to read it carefully.
A medical liability waiver functions according to an identical principle. It is adapted to the specifics of the healthcare industry but signed by patients. A good, quality medical disclaimer must be carefully drafted so that healthcare providers are not unreasonably responsible for things that are beyond their control or not entirely their fault. This helps prevent patients or their families from blaming them for things like complications, side effects, or patient unawareness.
However, it is worth noting that, unfortunately, no waiver is one hundred percent reliable. Under certain circumstances, a plaintiff has a chance to win a lawsuit even if his or her complaint is supported by a refusal. It is also worth considering such important points when no waiver can extend. This applies to gross negligence, malpractice, or willful misconduct.
Who Can Use the Medical Liability Waiver
The waiver of medical liability, as one would expect, is used by most medical professionals, including the following:
- Family Doctors
- Physicians
- Nurse Practitioners
- Physical and occupational therapists
- Surgeons
Such waivers can even be used by less traditional healthcare professionals such as chiropractors, massage therapists, alternative medicine practitioners, or veterinarians. In fact, any trained, licensed professional who monitors or improves the human or animal body benefits from the use of this type of document.
The use of the waiver applies not only to individual practitioners but also to medical facilities as a whole. In many cases, it is the facility that drafts, stipulate, and administers the waiver of liability. When this occurs, the medical document usually includes language that refers to professionals working for the facility as protected persons.
The most effective waivers are custom ones – they are unique in terms of both the circumstances and the parties. It means they are drafted on a case-by-case basis and take into account all the relevant circumstances and terms. No one would argue that it’s easier to take a template from the Internet, insert the necessary information, and adjust some wording according to the situation. Nevertheless, it can be safely said that this is not going to be the best option. It increases the chances that the denial will be rejected by the court. The best defense is to work closely with a knowledgeable and qualified lawyer who can develop a customized waiver of liability that meets the specific needs of all parties to the document.
There is another solution that has proven its efficiency. You can use the universal software package Pandadoc, where you can also find a well-designed disclaimer form template in the digital library. Having selected the appropriate template you can easily customize it and enter the relevant data.
Medical Disclaimer and the PandaDoc
You can also use the universal software package Pandadoc or PandaWaiver, where you can also find a well-designed template of a waiver of liability form in the digital library. In this case, you need to enter personal data.
In addition, the software enables users to avoid paperwork. With PandaDoc, you can create an unlimited number of templates for your consent forms, waivers of liability, and anything else you need to draft, sign, and store. The software enables you to store an unlimited number of signed documents, and your patients can also sign them from almost anywhere with an electronic digital signature. It’s a robust system with many other useful features that can simplify not only document management, but life, and of course, save time.