In clinical practice, patients are sometimes scheduled to go through complex procedures such as surgery. In other cases, medical practitioners face the issue of switching off life support machines, or choose between the life of the mother and her unborn child. In such cases, the medical practitioner must get the patient’s consent before performing such procedures.
Patients may or may not allow the doctors to carry out these procedures depending on the information they have on the matter. In addition, patients may refuse to get treatment depending on their religious beliefs. For example, some religions believe that blood transfusion is wrong (Pozgar, 2015). According to the law, patients must give informed consent to the medical practitioner before engaging in treatment. This means that the health practitioner explains the nature of the treatment to the patient: its benefits, risks, consequences of refusing treatment, and other treatment alternatives. With this information, the patient decides whether to take the treatment or not (Cordasco, 2013). Informed consent thus empowers the patient to make an ‘informed’ decision concerning his or her health.
Informed consent is meant to prepare the patient psychologically concerning from the repercussions of a treatment or procedure. Informed consent may also help medical practitioners to prevent medical mistakes. For instance, if a patient is allergic to a certain drug, he or she will get the chance to inform the medical practitioner before embarking on treatment (Cordasco, 2013). However, there are situations that permit a medical practitioner to proceed with a procedure or treatment without the patient’s consent. In cases of emergency where the patient is unconscious or is unable to give consent because of age or mental illness, the medical practitioner can obtain statutory consent from the patients’ relative. In the presence of a surrogate decision maker, the medical practitioner must make sure that the decision made is in the best interest of the patient. In this case, only the legal guardian of a minor must give statutory consent. In the case of a person suffering from mental illness, treatment may be given without his or her consent because the decision is made in the best interest of the patient and the community (Cordasco, 2013).
Medical practitioners, in the event of an emergency, usually apply implied consent. Before treating the patient, the doctor must first establish that the patient is unable to make the decision. Also, he should establish that there is no legal surrogate decision maker to give consent on behalf of the patient. Here, it is assumed that the patient would have decided to take the treatment if he or she was conscious (Pozgar, 2011). Implied consent may also be given in the absence of an emergency. The patient may give consent without speaking. For example, a patient standing at the end of an injection administration queue, gives consent to be given an injection. The patient, in such a case, has the opportunity to see the nature of the treatment received at the end of the queue. It is thus seen that by staying on the queue, the patient has decided to take the injection (Pozgar, 2011).
Consent to treatment may be expressed verbally, or in writing. It may also be expressed non-verbally by gestures such as nodding or stretching out an arm for an injection. The patient expresses consent after the health practitioner has explained the nature of the treatment (American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, 2016). Written consent is the safest and most common form of expressed consent. It is given before administration of treatment and can be given by the patient, the surrogate decision maker, or a judge depending on the condition of the patient. Verbal and non-verbal expression of consent are acceptable but must be documented in the patients’ chart.
References
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. (2016). Emergency Care and Transportation of the Sick and Injured: Burlington, MA. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Cordasco, K. M. (2013). Obtaining informed consent from patients: Brief update review. Retrieved from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Pozgar, G. D. (2011). Legal aspects of health care administration: Sudbury, MA. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
