Informed consent is a process that’s required for most medical procedures. However, there’s often confusion about what informed consent is, what it means, and when it’s needed.
In a healthcare setting, informed consent allows you to participate in your own medical care. It enables you to decide which treatments you do or do not want to receive.
Also, informed consent allows you to make decisions with your healthcare provider. This collaborative decision-making process is an ethical and legal obligation of healthcare providers.
In this article, we’ll help explain what informed consent is, when it’s needed, what it should include, and why it’s important.
Informed consent is when a healthcare provider — like a doctor, nurse, or other healthcare professional — explains a medical treatment to a patient before the patient agrees to it. This type of communication lets the patient ask questions and accept or deny treatment.
In a healthcare setting, the process of informed consent includes:
- your ability to make a decision
- explanation of information needed to make the decision
- your understanding of the medical information
- your voluntary decision to get treatment
These components are essential elements of the shared decision-making process between you and your healthcare provider. Most importantly, it empowers you to make educated and informed decisions about your health and medical care.
The following scenarios require informed consent:
- most surgeries (medical emergency may be without consent to save a life)
- blood transfusions
- anesthesia
- radiation
- chemotherapy
- some advanced medical tests, like a biopsy
- most vaccinations (medical emergency may be without consent to save a life)
- some blood tests, like HIV testing
An informed consent agreement should include the following information:
- diagnosis of your condition
- name and purpose of treatment
- benefits, risks, and alternative procedures
- benefits and risks of each alternative
With this information, you can make an educated choice about the procedures you receive.
When your healthcare provider recommends specific medical care, you can agree to all of it, or only some of it.
Before the procedure, you’ll have to complete and sign a consent form. This form is a legal document that shows your participation in the decision and your agreement to have the procedure done.
When you sign the form, it means:
- You received all the relevant information about your procedure from your healthcare provider.
- You understand this information.
- You used this information to determine whether or not you want the procedure.
- You agree, or consent, to get some or all of the treatment options.
Once you sign the form, your healthcare provider can move forward with the procedure.
If you don’t want a procedure or treatment, you can choose to not sign the form. Your healthcare provider won’t be able to provide specific types of treatment if you don’t agree to it.
