Consent

• Autores: Richard Hain
• Localización: Medicine, ISSN-e 1357-3039, Vol. 44, Nº. 10, 2016, págs. 593-595
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The purpose of informed consent is to enable the patient to participate in an intervention as a colleague, rather than as a victim. Giving informed consent depends on the patient's capacity for rational thinking and freedom from coercion by others. Properly used, the process of informed consent represents respect for autonomy. Although adults are, as a general rule, able to be rational and independent, and children are not, there are large numbers of exceptions to both rules. Adults who lack capacity are encompassed by the Mental Capacity Act. Consent by children who possess capacity is addressed by the Gillick test. A patient (adult or child) who lacks capacity may nevertheless have important views that must be considered seriously in clinical deliberation, even if they are ultimately overridden in the patient's best interests. Informed consent is defined by the process of dialogue between clinician and patient. While a written signature is an important symbol that those discussions have taken place, it is the exploration and an agreement represented by the signature that constitute informed consent. A signature on the bottom of a consent form, isolated from those discussions, is of little ethical or legal significance.