Informed consent

Abstract

Informed consent is the cornerstone of what we clinicians do-without it, no medical act should properly proceed. Without consent, what surgeons do could be considered a form of assault and battery. The main elements of consent are disclosure (has the patient received all the information any reasonable person would want to know in the same situation?), capacity (is the patient capable of comprehending the information given and the consequences of the proposed treatment or proceeding without it?), and voluntariness (is the patient free of undue forces which might influence his/her decision away from what they really want?). This chapter explores these elements along with important related topics like surrogate consent or consent by a substitute decision maker, consent for children who may be unfairly considered incapable simply due to their biological age, cultural influences in informed consent, and consent for novel procedures constituting surgical innovation.