Opinion ID: 1676323
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: revocation of consent

Text: Appellant argues that the trial court should have given an instruction to the jury on the claim of battery. However, lack of consent is an essential element of battery. Vitale v. Henchey, Ky., 24 S.W.3d 651 (2000). Since we have disposed of Appellant's lack of informed consent claim, Appellant must prove that her consent was effectively revoked. An indirect look at this issue is found in DeGrella, by and through Parent v. Elston, Ky. 858 S.W.2d 698, 703 (1993), wherein this Court considered the right of a competent person to forego medical treatment, either by refusal or withdrawal of same. We acknowledged the common law right, but focused on the legislative codification found in KRS 311.621(8), (formerly KRS 311.622(1). There, we were primarily concerned with what proof of the patient's desires to forego medical treatment entirely under certain circumstances was required when the patient was no longer capable of voicing those desires personally. In the case at bar, the patient is and was present to both voice the objections and give testimony about attempt to revoke. There is no case law directly on point in Kentucky regarding this issue, therefore we have looked to other jurisdictions to develop a test to guide the trial courts in determining whether sufficient proof has been presented to warrant submission of the issue to a jury. In Mims v. Boland, Ga., 110 Ga.App. 477, 138 S.E.2d 902, 905 (1964), the plaintiff claimed she revoked her consent to a barium enema which was administered despite her revocation. In reaching its conclusions, the Court of Appeals of Georgia delineated a test which we adopt: To constitute an effective withdrawal of consent as a matter of law[,] after treatment or examination is in progress[,] commensurate to subject medical practitioners to liability for assault and battery if treatment or examination is continued, two distinct things are required: (1) The patient must act or use language which can be subject to no other inference and which must be unquestioned responses from a clear and rational mind. These actions and utterances of the patient must be such as to leave no room for doubt in the minds of reasonable men that in view of all the circumstances consent was actually withdrawn. (2) When medical treatments or examinations occurring with the patient's consent are proceeding in a manner requiring bodily contact by the physician with the patient and consent to the contact is revoked, it must be medically feasible for the doctor to desist in the treatment or examination at that point without the cessation being detrimental to the patient's health or life from a medical viewpoint. Id. at 907. We believe that the jury could find from these factors that Coulter revoked her consent regarding use of the blood pressure cuff. First, she testified that she used very specific language in demanding that the cuff be removed. She claims that she stated, Take it off. I can't stand it, after the first inflation. Dr. Thomas testified that she merely complained of the tightness of the cuff. Regardless, it is up to the jury to decide whom to believe. If they choose to believe Appellant, language such as take it off could satisfy the first prong of the test. To distinguish Mims, the plaintiff there merely expressed a desire to insert the barium tube herself. Id. at 908. There was no testimony presented in that case that the plaintiff ever clearly and unequivocally asked the person administering the enema to remove it from her body; there were merely complaints of discomfort. As such, we find that the Appellant could satisfy the first element of this test. There is no question the plaintiff could easily prove the second prong, as the cuff was actually removed during the surgery without any sort of complication. Therefore, we hold that, on remand, the jury should be allowed to determine if Appellant's consent was effectively revoked.