The Dangers of a Lack of Informed Consent

When a patient seeks medical attention either directly or indirectly, the healthcare professional that treats the patient makes his or her best guess about the ailment the individual has. Based on this diagnosis, the healthcare provider determines appropriate treatment options.

Before performing these treatment procedures on a patient, the medical professional must first gain the informed consent of the affected individual. If this is not possible, then the medical provider must make every effort to find a next of kin or legal guardian to give approval.

In the event of a life-or-death situation when there is no time to gain the patient's consent, a healthcare provider is usually within legal rights to treat the patient without permission.

In medicine, the term informed consent refers to a patient or legal guardian giving a physician or other medical professional permission to perform a certain procedure after fully understanding the consequences of said procedure.

Failing to gain consent can be hazardous to patients' health. When a healthcare provider takes liberty in performing extra procedures without gaining the patient's consent, he or she assumes that the patient has divulged all of his or her medical background.

This, of course, is not always the case. As a result, the procedures that a medical provider performs without consent may interact with medications a patient is taking or may be unsafe or extremely stressful on a patient's body given prior medical problems.

When an individual suffers an injury because he or she received treatment without giving informed consent, he or she may be entitled to financial compensation for his or her injuries. The exception is the previously mentioned scenario in which the patient's life is in danger and consent cannot be gained in a reasonable amount of time.