Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Informed Consent (22Feb12)
Comment on your readings for this week regarding informed consent. Do you read the forms at the doctor's office or hospital? Are you really informed? What values underlie informed consent? Why is it important to protect informed consent. How is informed consent related to autonomy and paternalism?
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I think it is assumed (wrongly) that those forms don't matter and are a nuisance, so a vast majority of people don't read the forms in any medical situation. I know I don't. Most people that talk to me about it say how frustrating it is to fill out paperwork at a doctor's office and will do anything to move the process along more quickly, like just "look for the x and sign". They don't understand that they HAVE to sign it for a reason.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think doctors don't really put too much emphasis on the fact that patients should read them. Whenever I go to a doctor, it is *hands me the paper with BUNCHES of fine print* "sign here" *points to line with X* and that is that. As patients, we don't even get the time to read that fine print. Doctors are sending us the message that what those papers say are not.
I don't think i've ever met someone who has truly sat down and read all of the papers that they are given at a doctor's office. Now that I think about it, it's pretty messed up.
I always try to read as much of the paperwork as I can while I have the nurses tapping their feet for me to finish so they can move onto something more important. I agree that between the patients and the doctors/nurses, what it actually says on the paperwork is not a big concern. But after talking about informed consent last week, it is clear that handing us a piece of paper to sign is not enough. A lot of times the paper doesn't matter because nothing goes wrong with the procedure but if I was that one in a million patient to have some kind of fatal reaction to the anesthetic or medicine, I would at least want my family to have the comfort of knowing that both them and I knew the risk. Even in some kind of minor or routine sort of medical treatment can go wrong and I don't want the doctor to look at me and say well you signed the paper so there is nothing else I can do.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I do not always read the forms at the doctor's office. Whenever you go to a new doctor's office or any place that requires you to fill out paper work, there is always so much to fill out and read in such a short amount of time. If you sign the paper saying you understand the guidelines, then you are considered to be informed. The chances of you actually catching all the information from the forms is probably unlikely. I think health care providers should allow more time for patients to read over the consent forms so patients know that it IS important for them to read the fine print and have a good understanding of what they are signing off on. As patients it is important to protect informed consent because if I am diagnosed with a serious condition, I want to be informed of all the possible treatments and I don't want the doctor to withhold information from me. Informed consent is related to autonomy because without being informed of all possible treatments, a patient cannot weigh the pros and cons of all types of possible treatments in order to make their own decision.
ReplyDeleteI work at a doctors office and I cannot tell you how many times I have had patients come back to me and ask just show me where to sign I really don't feel like reading through all of this. They just want to get in, see the doctor, and get out. Also, in the medical profession today I feel we don't give patients enough time for them to read through everything and truly be informed about everything and sadly because of that patients are not reading what they are signing.
ReplyDeleteThere's always so many forms to fill out and read and patients usually want to get their chart back ASAP so that they are called in ASAP. Now some dr. offices don't even give all the forms unless you ask for it, otherwise you just sign that you didn't want it. When I took my daughter to the dr. they just asked me to sign a pad once for consent and another for financial responsibility. I believe dr. offices should put more emphasis on reading AND understanding the forms before signing them.
ReplyDeleteI almost never read any forms that they hand me at appointments. I always just trust that their one-sentence summary (this says you agree to pay for all services) is accurate and that if there is anything that needs clarification, they will tell me. Probably foolish on my part, but I would say most people are like me. I will say that I've learned to ask about potential consequences before procedures, so I at least have an idea of major side effects. However, since I don't read the fine print, I am not 100% informed. I am just assuming that I will be okay and accepting the possibility of rare side effects.
ReplyDeleteI think this is important because health care team members can not perform services to you unless it is signed however there is always so much to read and everything is so wordy. There should be more education that goes along with signing and patients should at all times know what it is they are signing.
ReplyDeletePatients deserve to be fully aware of what care and services are being provided to them. I agree that more education needs to be involved with informed consent because many in today's society do not take the time to read the important points.
ReplyDeleteAs somebody who doesn't go to the doctor that often whenever I do go I never read any of the forms that I have to sign very extensively just because I really feel like it is just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo. I just trust that I am not going to be tricked by anyhting. But I do think people should make more of an effort to read any documents before you sign them.
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