Informed Consent Essay: Ethical Principles of Gaining Informed Consent

In their article, “The Concept of Informed Consent,” Faden and Beauchamp give two varying definitions of informed consent, namely sense one and sense two. Sense one is defined as autonomous authorization, meaning that the patient or subject agrees and then gives authority to move forward with a proposal (Vaughn 191). The authors give four conditions that have to be met for informed consent to be recognized: the patient has to understand the information presented to her, there should be no manipulation or coercion, and she has to intentionally give her authorization (Vaughn 191). Faden and Beauchamp also note that the fourth condition, where the patient gives her authorization, is pivotal in this sense since it differentiates autonomous authorization

The first is the informed consent and self determination on behalf of the participants of the research study. Participants must be willing to participate in the research and aware of of any benefits and costs. It is required that all participants are notified of the reasoning of the research, the risks within the conduction of the research and how collected data will be used. Usually plain statements will be given, in plain language that can be understood by the participants outlining what there involvement requires and the aims of the research. Following, participants will be required to sign a consent document outlining that they are aware of the details of the research and agree on

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

There are globally known guidelines in place that offer a framework of ethics research and this influences the codes of ethical that apply to research carried out in the NHS and universities in the UK. Codes of conduct or practise for health and social care professionals do not openly contain research but the fundamental principles of professional practice would be reliable with hope for ethical research.

P2 Understand ethical issues relating to research in health and social care Ethical principles Protection from harm- In any health care setting it is always important to make sure that all the individuals in all the aspects of the area are being protected from harm. In any organization the most important policy is the protection policy this enables the staff to make sure that all the individuals feel safe. Protection from harm does not only mean being protected from abuse It could be protecting people's health and wellbeing and enabling them to live free from harm, neglect and abuse.

The Doctor and Patient relationship aspect of Medicine has changed drastically in the last twenty years. It has evolved from paternalism (the doctor makes the decision for the patient) to shared decision making where the patient is considered an equal partner in his/her own health related decisions. Informed consent is the cornerstone for this view. When a patient or a research subject makes an autonomous decision after understanding, the risks and benefits involved with the decision is Informed consent. Complete Informed consent covers the following components: competency, disclosure, comprehension and voluntary. Competency refers to the requirement for the individual to be of legal age and be mentally competent to understand the process.

Patient informed consent refers to the situation where the patient is fully informed on the consequences of their health care decision after which the patient gives the decision. For there to be informed consent, there are five elements that must be discussed. The first is the nature of the patient's decision then the applicable alternatives to the proposed intervention. Third are the risks, benefits and uncertainties associated with each of the alternatives. Fourth is the assessment of the patient's understanding and last is the acceptance of the intervention or an alternative by the patient. Before the patient's consent is considered to be valid, the patient's competency to make the decision must be addressed. The criteria for evaluating the patient's competency is clearly stated in section 3 of the 2005 Mental Capacity Act which states that provided the person is able to understand, retain and use information provided and to communicate their decision in any way such as talking or sign language, they are competent to make a decision. If a patient is treated against their refusal to consent, it amounts to the tort of battery or can also be considered the crime of assault. In addition to this, laws that touch on human rights reinforce the importance of the protection of the physical integrity of the individual in terms of their right to respect of their private life. Therefore, refusal of medical treatment is a human right.

De Bord, J. (2014). ETHICS IN MEDICINE University of Washington School of Medicine. Retrieved from https://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/topics/consent.html

INFORMED CONSENT : Valid consent is impossible. To date, foetal tissue transplants have been handled as any other organ transplants under the UAGA, thus requiring consent of next of kin. The mother cannot give morally legitimate consent, since she initiated the termination of the pregnancy. Elimination of consent, however, would further turn the unborn child into an object; it would be inconsistent with the fact that, biologically, the developing foetus does not interpret the woman’s tissue. The UAGA and the NIH Panel both fail to discern the conflict between normal organ transplants and the function of foetal tissue. In the instance of foetal tissue, the mother is presumed to be the one who gives consent to the use of the tissue for the transplant (or for some other kind of experimentation). Granting to the normal understanding of proxy consent, her role assumes that she is working in the best interest of the unborn child. However, she is also the one who has initiated the final termination of pregnancy. Just quoting the part of the act dealing with informed consent stated in the NewZealand legislation

Dimond (2009) and NHS choices (2016) explained consent as the process involving a person giving their approval to accept or refuse a treatment or interventions, after receiving detailed information from a health care professional about the risk or benefits of the procedure. In order for consent to be deemed valid, it needs to be given voluntarily without any influence or pressure from either a family member or clinician. In addition, the capacity of the person is important when giving consent and the ability to process the given information and make a decision. Tingle &Cribb (2014) agree, emphasizing that the autonomy of the person giving

Respect for human dignity includes two rights; the right to self-determination and the right to full disclosure. When conducting a research study these two rights must be maintained to ensure that the participants are not coerced into participation and that they are making the choice of their own free will. Patients must be provided with all the information necessary to make an informed decision and voluntarily participate. No deception or concealed data collection can be done because it will violate the patients’ rights.

Informed consent, what is it and why do patients give it? Well, in the medical field a person must give informed consent before receiving treatment. But what does informed consent even mean? It can be hard to even understand what informed consent is and so this leads a person to wonder ethically if there might also be barriers that would prevent a person from giving informed consent. Could language be a barrier, for example can a medical professional “dumb” down a medical procedure enough for a high school dropout or for a child to understand the treatment being offered to them? While that might sound quite harsh the reality is that some medical patients are exactly that, high school dropouts or young children.

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.

Consent can be quite tricky, a legal minefield for healthcare teams, this is due to the patients who will give or refuse to give private information about themselves who is legally competent but

“Vulnerability” term is a fairly new one in the discourse of bioethics; it was used in the Belmont Report in 1979 for the first time. The meaning of the concept has gradually evolved over time. At first, vulnerability was reflected as a special deliberation in the application of the bioethical principles of respect for persons, beneficence, and justice, mostly applicable in the framework of research with human beings. In the 1993 CIOMS guidelines, the notion of “vulnerability” developed to include a distinctive application of the principle of justice and the principle of respect