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Jonathan Hooker is, I believe, quite right that the consent of
relatives is neither necessary nor sufficient for treating an incompetent
adult. Despite this, the practice of seeking relatives' consent is
widespread; many practitioners even get relatives to sign consent forms.
This seems to be not only legally ill-founded, but also ethically
questionable. The main worries are, first, that it diverts the
clinician's attention away from what should be their main focus, the
patient's best interest. Second, we cannot always be sure that relatives
do have the best interest of the patient at heart. In practice problems
are rare, but, as Morris (1) shows, they do occur.
Yours
Peter Allmark
1Morris E. Consent may be hard to obtain for incompetent patients
when relatives object. BMJ 1998; 316: 1608(23 May.)
Relatives and consent
Jonathan Hooker is, I believe, quite right that the consent of
relatives is neither necessary nor sufficient for treating an incompetent
adult. Despite this, the practice of seeking relatives' consent is
widespread; many practitioners even get relatives to sign consent forms.
This seems to be not only legally ill-founded, but also ethically
questionable. The main worries are, first, that it diverts the
clinician's attention away from what should be their main focus, the
patient's best interest. Second, we cannot always be sure that relatives
do have the best interest of the patient at heart. In practice problems
are rare, but, as Morris (1) shows, they do occur.
Yours
Peter Allmark
1Morris E. Consent may be hard to obtain for incompetent patients
when relatives object. BMJ 1998; 316: 1608(23 May.)
Competing interests: No competing interests