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Informed consent is an ethical and legal requirement
What is informed consent in healthcare
Critical essays on informed consent
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Recommended: Informed consent is an ethical and legal requirement
According to the textbook, informed consent is the agreement to permit a medical procedure after disclosure of all relevant facts needed to make an intelligent decision. Informed consent presents a clear perspective of the facts, consequences, and risks involved with the medical treatment or procedure. Consent requires that a person is legally competent and possess a reasonable sum of information and comprehension about the proposed operation of health care treatment.
“Cobbs v Grant 8 Cal.3d 229 (1972) made obtaining informed consent a nondelegable duty of the surgeon or other health care professional performing a procedure. Other people can give the patient some information, but the surgeon or the person performing the procedure must participate
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Expressed consent is the consent that is given in writing, or is a verbal consent using words. However, liability issues in today’s society make expressed consent a rarely used option. Implied consent is established by a patient demonstrating and action that signals they agree to the treatment.
“Informed consent is used not only in the medical sector but in any other sector where an individual’s well-being and/or health are at stake. When accepting to undergo experimental treatments or clinical trials an individual has the right to be informed of all the risks involved and consent to the latter” (HG.org, n.d.).
Consent is a voluntary agreement with an action proposed by another. Consent is an act of reason; the person giving consent must be of sufficient mental capacity and be in possession of all essential information to give valid consent. An individual who is an infant is mentally incompetent, or is under the influence of drugs is incapable of giving consent. Consent must also be free of coercion or fraud. (Farlex, n.d.)
Informed consent is the authorization by the patient of services based on the principles of autonomy and privacy; this has become the requirement at the center of morally solid decision making in health care and research. (Farlex,
Autonomy is a concept found in moral, political, and bioethical reasoning. Inside these connections, it is the limit of a sound individual to make an educated, unpressured decision. Patient autonomy can conflict with clinician autonomy and, in such a clash of values, it is not obvious which should prevail. (Lantos, Matlock & Wendler, 2011). In order to gain informed consent, a patient
In Amira’s case, an issue of consent is arisen that her GP has not explained to her much about the conditions she is suffering and the medication that he prescribed. Amira was left a little confused because she did not has the chance to ask questions. For obtaining consent, it must be informed and capacity which means that Amira must be given all of the information of the treatment and they understand the information provided by the doctor and they can use it to make a decision (13). Obtaining consent will lead to enhancement of the efficiency to the treatment because Amira is happy and showing agreement to the
In the case study, Betty was adamant in refusing treatment, despite the risks of the illness progressing and potentially leading to death; under the laws of the medical treatment act (1988) any adult who exhibits competency has the right to refuse treatment, even if refusal of care increases the risk to their health, this right is based on autonomy (3). The information outlined suggests that Betty was capable of making a decision as she fulfils all the elements of consent; therefore she is competent and has the right to deny treatment. Betty acknowledges the risks of not receiving treatment and admits that not receiving treatment will make it difficult, demonstrating her sound understanding of the risk and benefits of the outcomes. For a patient to fulfil the element of understanding they must receive, process and incorporate the information they are provided with into their own personal values and Betty demonstrates this level of understanding by sticking to her values, her decision to stay home and by acknowledging the difficulties and risks of not receiving treatment (3). Once Betty received a diagnosis she was informed by the paramedic of the outcomes and potential risks of not receiving treatment for her condition, Betty was sufficiently informed with information and risks relevant to her situation, enabling her to make an informed decision (3). In order for consent to be considered voluntary, a patient must consent to treatment in an environment free of threat and pressure; if a patients decision is genuine they will also accept responsibility for the outcomes and understand the risks (3). Voluntary consent is a slightly grey area in Betty’s scenario, her son is potentially placing pressure on Betty with his demands, however, Betty expresses responsibility by admitting it will be difficult to and
In America, the legal age to sign off on any medical consent is 18 years of age. Seventeen year olds should be able to compose their own medical decisions, and sign off on their own medical consents. Power should land in their hands, accompanied by the professional advice of a doctor. It is your body, be compelled to fabricate a decision without having to have your parent’s signature.
Informed consent is the basis for all legal and moral aspects of a patient’s autonomy. Implied consent is when you and your physician interact in which the consent is assumed, such as in a physical exam by your doctor. Written consent is a more extensive form in which it mostly applies when there is testing or experiments involved over a period of time. The long process is making sure the patient properly understands the risk and benefits that could possible happen during and after the treatment. As a physician, he must respect the patient’s autonomy. For a patient to be an autonomous agent, he must have legitimate moral values. The patient has all the rights to his medical health and conditions that arise. When considering informed consent, the patient must be aware and should be able to give a voluntary consent for the treatment and testing without being coerced, even if coercion is very little. Being coerced into giving consent is not voluntary because others people’s opinions account for part of his decision. Prisoners and the poor population are two areas where coercion is found the most when giving consent. Terminally ill patients also give consent in hope of recovering from their illness. Although the possibilities are slim of having a successful recovery, they proceed with the research with the expectation of having a positive outcome. As stated by Raab, “informed consent process flows naturally from the ‘partnership’ between physician and patient” (Raab). Despite the fact that informed consent is supposed to educate the patients, it is now more of an avoidance of liability for physicians (Raab). Although the physician provides adequate information to his patient, how can he ensure that his patient properly ...
Truog, Robert D., Walter Robinson, Adrienne Randolph, and Alan Morris. "Is Informed Consent Always Necessary For Randomized, Controlled Trials?" The New England Journal of Medicine 340, (March 1999): 804-807.
The legal term of consent reflects a person’s agreement to something; while informed consent means that a patient has full knowledge of the possible consequences of the proposed treatment and has the right to accept or decline (Queensland Health, 2011). Informed consent is provided and gained during a conversation between a client and the treating health professional and is critical to providing patient-centred care (Freegard, Isted & Russell, 2012). This essay will aim to discuss the use of advance care directives (ACD) in healthcare using several ethical principles and theories such as respect for autonomy, beneficence verses maleficence and paternalism. It will also compare the professional and ethical frameworks of nurses and paramedics on the issue of ACD’s and informed consent.
If consent is given by a person reasonably
Informed consent is a very serious decision a patient has to make when it comes to their health and consenting to procedures that are believed to cure or treat their current health status. It is important to address the effectiveness of the role a physician play in the informed consent process assuring that the patient has given truly informed consent and what safeguards can be put in place to assure the patient is exercising informed consent. Informed consent is based on the fact that the person consenting is a rational individual that is aware of the action to which he/she is consenting. Allen and McNamara (2011) notes that "On the standard understanding, the important elements of informed consent are the provision of information, the voluntariness of the choice and the competence of the chooser to make the choice— so the potential research participant should be provided with information relevant to the decision to participate, they should be able to choose freely about their participation and they should be competent to decide.
The term ‘informed’ means that the consent forms should be accompanied with an information sheet which includes details of what the participant should expect from the experiment, details of the investigators and how they can be contacted. It is acceptable to not receive informed consent as long as what happens to the participants could occur in their everyday
Informed consent requires doctors to tell someone about all of the risks and details of a procedure that they are having and whether or not
The article titled “Contemporary Ethical Analyses: A Shortfall in Scientific Knowledge” describes the ethics through the public’s eye. One of the major ethical issues brought up is informed consent.
Once the patient is informed an informed consent must be obtained. Informed consent is a requirement from the authorized institutional review
Furthermore the researcher must ensure that the participant has a full understanding of the method, risks, and the time needed to conduct the study (Patton, 2006). The signed consent involves the procedure by which an individual may choose whether or not to participate in a study. The participant must be informed of their right to right to withdraw from participating in the study if the need arises. The two forms of consent are direct and substitute. Direct consent is obtained directly from the person the preferred and is the preferred method.