Why we must stop ‘consenting the patient’

[摘要] Consent is a fundamental principle in medical ethics, law, and professionalism. It is widely recognised among medical professionals and wider society that it is the right of all patients to be involved in decisions relating to their treatment and care (if they are able to), and that significant harm can occur if they are not empowered to do so in an informed manner.Accordingly, medical schools in the UK are instructed by the General Medical Council (GMC) to convey in their curricula the importance of consent as a foundational medical value, and thus produce doctors who are aware of the necessity to take valid consent from the patient before performing any examination, investigation, or treatment in their care.1 Yet, by ‘consenting the patient’ — a phrase used commonly in secondary care practice and also implicitly in primary care settings — we may fail to satisfy the central components of this vitally important principle.

[学科分类] 卫生学