system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: if an unconscious person is operated upon by a hospital, is there an enforceable contract between them, even in the absence of an express agreement? Specifically, what kind of a legal obligation is that patent under, if not a contractual one?
gpt
Medical ethics, backed by law in English speaking countries, require that doctors to do whatever is immediately necessary to preserve a patient's 'life and limb'. (Within the facilities available to them and without putting themselves at risk.) So if you arrive at a hospital unconscious, they will do what they can to reverse that.

Who ends up paying for it in the end depends on where you are and what the health service is like. Here in NZ, the state pays. Even if the patient is a stupid tourist with no travel insurance who just fell off a mountain.

But if the unconscious person is in the USA, he or she has just inadvertantly handed over all their assets to the hospital. You guys need a single payer system so badly ...