Informed Consent Flashcards
Informed Consent
- Right to be free from
nonconsensual interference
with your person - Right to determine what will
be done with your body
Purposes of informed consent
- Protect individual autonomy
- Protect patient’s status as human
being - Avoid fraud or duress
- Encourage drs to consider decisions
carefully - Foster patient’s rational decision-
making - Involve public in medicine
Informed Consent Requirements:
- Duty to disclose information to patients
–> Includes alternatives and risks - Duty to seek consent of patient prior to
treatment
Violations of informed consent:
- Battery
- Negligence: failure to disclose
important information
Causation in informed consent
- Decision Causation- Dr’s failure to disclose caused pt’s consent
- Injury Causation- Procedure to which patient consented caused harm
Canterbury v.
Spence
Rule:
Prior to a medical procedure, a physician is under a duty to disclose all risks that a reasonable person would find significant in making an informed decision whether to undergo the specific procedure.
Facts:
-Patient got back surgery, wasn’t warned of the potential (slight) risk of being paralyzed
What is the scope of the informed consent obligation?
- Divulge risks material to patient’s decision
- Reasonable person in patient’s position
What should a doctor disclose?
- Diagnosis & prognosis
- Nature & purpose of proposed treatment
- Risks
- Treatment alternatives (including watchful waiting)
- Consequences of refusing tests or treatement
When should you not disclose?
-If disclosing will make illness worse (psychiatric problems)
–> may need to try to get guardian to consent, otherwise if they don’t, and they absolutely need the treatment, then they may not need to disclose
-An emergency situation (gunshot wound)
