Informed Consent Essay

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

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

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.

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).

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.

Franklin also makes a good point when she says that some doctors just treat their patients like names on a clipboard, and that should change as demonstrated in the case of the woman who ran from her procedure. Her belief that the doctor is solely responsible for the consent form and it is part of his job to make sure the patients has a fully detailed explanation sounds reasonable, and she supports her claim with creditable sources like other doctors and patients who have had bad experiences from not have the consent form explained to them properly .

Canadian health care consent act, (1996) says that, there is no treatment without informed consent and it must be related to the proposed treatment, it must be given voluntarily and must not be obtained through misrepresentation or fraud. There is a different provision for a person who is deemed incapable to give consent. If a person is not competent to give consent, it may be given or refused on his/her behalf by a substitute decision maker. There is no specific age for children to give consent in Ontario but health care providers must assess the decision-making capacity of a child before proceeding with the treatment. There is exclusion too i.e. when informed consent is not mandatory. In an emergency situation informed consent could be withheld, where the person is experiencing severe suffering or he/she is at risk of life, if the treatment is not administered promptly and if there is no substitute decision maker to make decision on behalf of the patient. (HCCA,

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

In certain circumstances, informed consent requirements may be waived. These typically occur in the case of minors, who are not considered competent to make medical decisions, emergencies, or if the patient is not mentally competent enough to make an informed decision. Additionally, if the patient has chosen to waive the informed consent requirement, then the practitioner is

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.

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

The standard of care is the attention you would give to any one of your patients in similar situations. A patient’s best interest is the only one to be considered. An appropriate standard of care would be reached in this case study if you would treat her emergency situation as you would any other, regardless of circumstance and act on that accordingly. There should be no favoritism of judgment in your standard of care. (Caldwell & Connor, 2012, pg. 27).

It is the responsibility of the physician to explain the risks and benefits and to answer any questions that the patient may have. A patient must be competent to sign the informed consent or the informed consent will not be valid. If the patient is not able to consent, a power of attorney may consent for the patient (Bashore, 2012).

Informed consent is a document that the patient must sign which allows the process of the treatment to be begin. The paper must be sign to protect the patient as well as the doctor from any legal issues. Before the heath care professional can perform treatment(s), the patient must be informed of all possible dangers and possible side effects. The basic principles that are in an informed consent document include the followings. The patient must have a clear understanding about the situation.

“Respect for human beings involves giving due scope to peoples capacity to make their own decisions. In the research context, this normally requires that participation be the result of a choice made by the participants” (NHMR, 2007, p.3).  Freegard 2012 (p.60), states that “respecting the rights of others,” includes a responsibility for Health professionals “to let others know about their rights” and that this forms the basis of an informed consent.