BMJ  2008;336:1259-1260 (7 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.a155

Editorials

Patient consent—decision or assumption?

New guidance from the General Medical Council urges a change in approach

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The process of obtaining consent from patients for procedures such as surgical operations has been described as "the modern clinical ritual of trust,"¹ although its real meaning and performance are still debatable.² Last week, the General Medical Council released new guidance on the subject, Consent: Patients and Doctors Making Decisions Together, that will be implemented in June 2008.³

To caricature, obtaining consent often involves a junior member of the clinical team being charged with obtaining a signed piece of paper declaring that the patient has understood the nature of the procedure and its consequences. Consent is often completed a few hours before the intended procedure, and patients seldom have time to read, never mind reflect on, information about possible harms and benefits—rare or otherwise.

Although the consent discourse has hardly been studied in depth, many clinicians report the process of obtaining consent from patients as a perfunctory chore—to be . . . [Full text of this article]

¹ Department of Primary Care and Public Health, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF14 4YS

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