Informed consent for surgery – When should this be done?

When is Informed Consent “Informed”?

Typically, a consent document in the United States is a printed form with blank spaces in which the operative procedure is filled in. The form is signed by the patient, and placed into the medical record. At first glance, it would seem that the patient was told of the operative procedure and gave his or her consent. Yet informed consent, or, more accurately, lack of informed consent, is a frequ...

When should tests for unexpected antibodies be done during pregnancy?

B oth the AABB’s Guidelines for Prenatal and Perinatal Immunohematology and the practice bulletin of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) on “Management of Alloimmunization during Pregnancy” advocate testing pregnant women for unexpected antibodies to red blood cell (RBC) antigens at the first-trimester visit. This testing serves to detect those alloantibodies capable ...

Informed consent in cardiac resynchronization therapy: what should be said?

Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) for the treatment of heart failure (HF) raises complex problems for informed consent. CRT with and without defibrillator backup has been demonstrated in clinical trials to improve symptoms from HF and decrease mortality.1–4 A CRT pacemaker (CRT-P) may improve symptoms and reduce mortality in selected patients, even without offering the specific protection...

Should informed consent be based on rational beliefs?

Our aim is to expand the regulative ideal governing consent. We argue that consent should not only be informed but also based on rational beliefs. We argue that holding true beliefs promotes autonomy. Information is important insofar as it helps a person to hold the relevant true beliefs. But in order to hold the relevant true beliefs, competent people must also think rationally. Insofar as inf...

Informed consent for brain surgery.