(j) “Qualified legal assistance organization” means a legal aid, public defender, or military assistance office or a bona fide organization that recommends, furnishes or pays for legal services to its members or beneficiaries, provided the office, service, or organization receives no profit from the rendition of legal services, is not designed to procure financial benefit or legal work for a lawyer as a private practitioner, does not infringe the individual member’s freedom as a client to challenge the approved counsel or to select outside counsel at the client’s expense, and is not in violation of any applicable law. (i) “Person” includes a corporation, an association, a trust, a partnership, and any other organization or legal entity.
(h) “Partner” denotes a member of a partnership, a shareholder in a law firm organized as a professional corporation, or a member of an association authorized to practice law. A person’s knowledge may be inferred from circumstances. (g) “Knowingly,” “known,” or “knows” denotes actual knowledge of the fact in question. (f) “Informed consent” denotes the agreement by a person to a proposed course of conduct after the lawyer has communicated adequate information and explanation about the material risks of and reasonably available alternatives to the proposed course of conduct. (e) “Fraud” or “fraudulent” denotes conduct that is fraudulent under substantive or procedural law and has a purpose to deceive. (d) “Firm” or “law firm” denotes a lawyer or lawyers in a law partnership, professional corporation, limited liability entity, sole proprietorship or other association authorized to practice law or lawyers employed in a legal services organization or the legal department of a corporation, government entity, or other organization.
See paragraph (f) for the definition of “informed consent.” If it is not feasible to obtain or transmit the writing at the time the person gives informed consent, then the lawyer must obtain or transmit it within a reasonable time thereafter. (c) “Confirmed in writing,” when used in reference to the informed consent of a person, denotes informed consent that is given in writing by the person or a writing that a lawyer promptly transmits to the person confirming an oral informed consent. A person’s belief may be inferred from circumstances. (b) “Belief” or “believes” denotes that the person involved actually supposed the fact in question to be true. (a) “Bar association” includes an association of specialists in particular services, fields, and areas of law. In such situations, the physician should inform the patient/surrogate at the earliest opportunity and obtain consent for ongoing treatment in keeping with these guidelines.The following definitions are applicable to the Rules of Professional Conduct: In emergencies, when a decision must be made urgently, the patient is not able to participate in decision making, and the patient’s surrogate is not available, physicians may initiate treatment without prior informed consent. When the patient/surrogate has provided specific written consent, the consent form should be included in the record.
The process of informed consent occurs when communication between a patient and physician results in the patient’s authorization or agreement to undergo a specific medical intervention.