Consent to medical and surgical procedures
Posted by admin | Posted in Medicine | Posted on 02-11-2007
Tagged Under : child care, clinical trials, general consent, medical and surgical procedures
Information
As a general rule, medical or surgical procedures in Ireland may not be carried out without the informed consent of the patient.
The law is not clear on what should happen in cases where the patient is unable to give consent because, for example, of a mental disorder or because he/she is comatose. Similarly, the question of what consent is required in the case of children is not totally clear.
There are detailed rules about the conduct of clinical trials and the information that must be given to participants in these trials.
Rules
What is consent
In general, valid consent must be informed consent. The law is not clear on exactly how much information a doctor must give a patient. Consent is now legally defined for the purposes of psychiatric treatment but not for other treatment.
If there is no consent
If a person carries out medical or surgical procedures without consent, he/she could be charged with the crime of assault – the decision on charges is made by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
He/she could also be sued for the tort (civil wrong) of trespass to the person and possibly for breach of constitutional rights. If the person involved is a medical professional, he/she could also be sued for negligence. The patient may take these actions.
Competence to give consent
If you are a mentally competent adult, there is no doubt about the need for consent but what exactly constitutes informed consent is not totally clear.
You may give a general consent – for example, you may tell your doctor to do what he/she considers best. You may give implied consent by not specifically ruling out certain procedures.
Your implied consent may arise out of necessity – for example, if unexpected complications arise during an operation.
If you are seriously ill and not in a position to give or withhold consent, the doctor may carry out what would be considered usual procedures arising from necessity.
Sometimes doctors may consult with your family or nearest relatives but they really have no legal right to give or withhold consent.
