MEDICAL PROCEDURE INFORMED CONSENT
Informed consent is about a patient’s understanding and willingness to have a medical procedure or treatment. Patients have rights regarding their consent: the right to choose whether to obtain medical treatment, the right to choose certain types of treatment, the right to know the risks and the benefits of treatment, and the right to have information about alternative types of treatment. Each patient should be given the respect, time, and opportunity necessary to make his or her own decisions about treatment. It is a requirement that medical practitioners provide conscious patients with information about all the potential benefits, risks and alternatives involved in any medical procedure or course of treatment, and they must obtain the patient’s consent before commencing treatment. Patients also have the right to refuse treatment or medical care.
The physician who is attending the patient or who will perform a procedure has the legal responsibility to obtain the consent for treatment, not medical students as they are not allowed to be responsible for patient care. Not all medical situations require that an informed consent be obtained, such as taking a temperature or blood pressure. But for invasive procedures such as surgery and anesthesia, informed consent is required.
Law suits for failure to obtain informed consents are considered to be either medical malpractice or battery, depending on the circumstances. A plaintiff in an informed consent suit must show that the healthcare provider unreasonably failed to obtain informed consent, and that a reasonable patient in the plaintiff’s position would or would not have chosen the treatment had the information been provided. In a medical malpractice suit, the plaintiff would also have to show damages.
When a patient is admitted to an emergency room or intensive care unit, informed consent is not automatically implied. Informed consent must be obtained if the patient is conscious, competent and/or a legal guardian or parent is present who may make healthcare decisions for incompetent, under age and/or unconscious patients. Implied consent is assumed in emergency situations when there is imminent risk to the life of the patient, when the patient is unconscious or if there is not enough time to obtain informed consent.
By signing an informed consent form, the patient is not consenting to have a procedure performed improperly or negligently, and is not waiving the right to sue for malpractice.