Pros And Cons Of Informed Consent

Every patient has a right to decide on their own course of treatment and freely consent to that treatment. In order to make an educated decision they must be provided with the proper information to make an informed choice (Opinion 8.08 - Informed Consent, 2006). It is the physician’s legal and ethical obligation to provide this information when making their recommendation on treatment. The choices given must be in accordance with good medical practice (Opinion 8.08 - Informed Consent, 2006). The informed consent is the legal policy, either written or verbal, that gives full disclosure of all the information including potential risks that is applicable to the patient’s condition and treatment being offered (Kazmier, 2008).

In this case, the night of January 11, 1983, Nancy Cruzan was driving a car and lost control of her car as she traveled down Elm Road in Jasper County, Missouri. The car overturned, and Nancy Cruzan was discovered lying face down in a ditch without detectable respiratory and cardiac function. Paramedics were able to restore her breathing and heartbeat at the accident site and she was transported to a hospital in an unconscious state. Then neurosurgeon diagnosed her and found that she is having sustained probable cerebral contusions compounded by significant anoxia (lack of oxygen). The Missouri trial court found that permanent brain damage generally results after 6 minutes in an anoxic state and Nancy was in this stage for 12 to 14 minutes.

Obtaining an informed consent is a vital part of current health care. This document lists out several key pieces of information for both the patient, Provider, and the ancillary staff that also access the document during the procedure process. However, obtaining informed consent has not always been the practice norm and in research, informed consent carries different specifications.

In our day today lives we make complex decisions, continually weighing up the risks and benefits of our actions. However in the hospital environment, the Doctor knows best attitude has prevailed for many years, patients deemed unable to be involved in decisions regarding treatment. Development in law relating to consent has been slow, based on paternalistic approach and therapeutic privilege to decide treatment choice for patients. Whilst health care practice moved towards informed consent, the law lagged behind. In 2015 informed consent has finally been recognised in Law. The author will describe the changing attitude in the law of consent from 1950’s to present day and how these changes affected nurses duty to obtain consent from patients

The patient has the right to receive information necessary to give informed consent prior to the start of any procedure or treatment.

According to According to (Gerald, Corey, Schneider, & Callanan, 2015) “Informed consent involves the right of clients to be informed about their therapy and to make autonomous decisions pertaining to it” (p.154). Section B of the ASCA National standards for School Counselors states “Recognize that providing services to minors in a school setting requires school counselors to collaborate with students’ parents/ guardians as appropriate” (pg.6). Since I will be working in the school system. I have to be aware that parents and guardians are heavily involved with the student’s school counseling experience.

In the world of medicine, consent is an ethical and a legal agreement between patient and their health care provider; to participate in but not limited to research trials or to obtain medical or surgical interventions. Consent generally is expressed or implied. Express consent can be an oral declaration or it can be provided by printed document. (informed consent). Nevertheless, consent is not an independent entity. It does not function on its own. It works in conjunction with capacity. Spike 2017, stated informed consent is the single most important concept for understanding decision-making capacity. This is measured by a patient’s ability to understand, retain, process and re-communicate the information provided by the medical professionals.

Informed consent is an integral part of the medical process, but what is it? How can the principles of Informed Consent conflict with each other or with patient care? It is important to examine Informed Consent very carefully and explore how the principles of Beneficence and Patient Autonomy work with each other for the best interests of the patients, even if the patient is refusing some treatment that is important in the standard of care. However, it may be possible that Informed consent and these elements work against one another, and conflict with the best interests of the patient.

I agree that this family is vulnerable and that their vulnerability should not exclude them from participating in a research study. Schrems (2014) discussed the importance of allowing vulnerable individuals the freedom to choose and I agree that in this case Fatima and her husband should be allowed the decision to participate in the study or not. However, I don’t agree that they should be encouraged. According to the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (2002), “Informed consent is a decision to participate in research, taken by a competent individual who has received the necessary information; who has adequately understood the information; and who, after considering the information, has arrived at a decision without having been subjected to coercion, undue influence or inducement, or intimidation” (p. 22). This definition of informed consent explicitly states that the participant not be subjected to coercion and therefore encouragement would be in violation of the patient’s rights. So while I believe the family is capable of decision making, I do not believe they should be encouraged to participate.

Very true when you say that informed consent is the core of autonomy, because the patient has the right to accept or not the indicated treatment although their decision endangers their lifes. Our responsibility is to educate the patient and family about the accepted benefits the risk and complications and fully express their treatment. “Emancipated minors are persons under the legal age who are no longer under their parents’ control and regulation and who are managing their own financial affairs” (Guido, 2014, p.127). In Puerto Rico it can be signed for people 21 years old and only if these are emancipated or married is when they can decide about their care, people under 21 need the consent of their parents or legal guardian unless it is an

Informed consent is a process where the physician provides the patient with information so that the patient can make a choice whether to accept or refuse treatment. This concept originates from the patients legal right to direct the type of health care they receive and the physicians ethical duty to involve the patient in the provision of medical care. Children do not have the capacity to give informed consent but their parents must give informed permission for treatment (Pozgar, 2012).

Consent in the health care circles is a where a health care professional explains to the patient their current medical condition, provides the available recommended treatment for the problem and the risks involved and then the patient signs the form indicating his or her consent for the procedure. However consent to a medical procedure is not enough, consent must be informed whereby the health care professional fully discloses the facts behind the medical intervention to the patient. Patients normally encounter the informed consent when they need a surgical or medical intervention. However, informed consent has less to do with the patient signing the form. The signed form is used as documentation for keeping record but it’s not informed

Informed consent is a formal agreement that a patient/member signs to give permission for a medical procedure or program after an explanation of risks and benefits are given to the patient/member (Merriam-Webster.com, 2015). Another definition for informed consent is, “tenet requiring that competent patients, who are free to consent, be sufficiently informed and be the principal decision makers in their own care” (Brannigan, 2001).

Delivery of excellent healthcare involves a multitude of dynamics including an extremely straightforward requirement of a patient’s permission for treatment or procedure. Informed consent, a patient’s authorization, consist of communiqué between healthcare provider or physician and the healthcare consumer, providing sufficient information allowing the patient to make a knowledgeable decision regarding healthcare treatment

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