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PRIMARY CARE: David Heaney, Sally Wyke, Philip Wilson, Rob Elton, Philip Rutledge, Ann Sommerville, and Tom Wilkie Assessment of impact of information booklets on use of healthcare services: randomised controlled trial • Commentary: What's wrong with opting out? • Commentary: Public opinion may force researchers to seek "opt in" consent for all studies BMJ 2001; 322: 1218 [Abstract] [Full text]

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Thin end of a long wedge

Roger M Goss   (30 May 2001)

Thin end of a long wedge 30 May 2001
Roger M Goss, Director Patient Concern Send response to journal: Re: Thin end of a long wedge	Editor - Sommerville and Patterson illustrate the inability of many health professionals to grasp the importance of people's perception of an argument, rather than its merits. (1) (2) Presuming consent to the use of patients' records for their future benefit sounds eminently reasonable and unobjectionable. But the BMA also unwisely advocates presuming consent to organ donation. Doctors for long presumed the right to strip dead children of their organs. At Bristol, they presumed the right to operate without spelling out the huge risks. The Student BMJ recently reported that some surgeons presume it acceptable to let trainees practice intimate examinations on anaesthetised patients without prior consent. Doctors, like the rest of us, often do whatever they think fit for as long as they can get away with it. They maintain that this is in our best interests. We are not clever enough or sufficiently well informed to appreciate that we are the beneficiaries. So is arguing for presumed consent to even the seemingly innocuous use of records wise? Or does it just reinforce prevailing suspicions that doctors may be economical with the truth when trying to get their way? Roger M. Goss Director - Patient Concern P.O. Box 23732, London SW5 9FY (1) Sommerville A. Commentary: What is wrong with opting out? BMJ 2001; 322: 1220 (19 May) (2) Patterson I. Consent to cancer registration - an unnecessary burden. BMJ 2001; 322: 1130 (5 May)