Los Angeles County hospitals to change surgery consent forms

Los Angeles County hospitals are standardizing the forms patients sign before surgery in response to a malpractice lawsuit that cost the county $1.6 million to settle. Health Services Department official Carol Meyer said the new standardized consent forms will be in use by the end of the year. A patient filed a lawsuit following a back surgery that left her paralyzed in 2005, and claimed no one explained the risks of the surgery to her.