The case of Canterbury v. Spence revolved around the plaintiff, a 19-year-old clerk typist working with the FBI. He was experiencing back pain and sought medical intervention from the defendant, a Washington Neurosurgeon, Dr. William T. Spence. The defendant performed a myelogram to determine the cause of the illness. Dr. Spence then performed a laminectomy on the plaintiff. The surgery was successful, but unfortunately, the claimant reportedly fell off the bed, causing him to suffer significant paralysis.
Due to his condition, the plaintiff sued the doctor for negligence, claiming he didn’t get his informed consent before performing the surgery. The doctor didn’t warn him that the procedure carried a 1% paralysis risk (“464 F2d 772 Canterbury v. Spence,” n.d.). The court held that the healthcare provider is legally required to provide any information a patient would wish to know concerning a particular medical intervention before performing surgery or procedure. Additionally, the doctor must obtain a patient’s informed consent before performing surgery or procedure.
Elements of Informed Consent
Patients must be able to make their own medical and health decisions. Before a patient agrees to treatment, the doctor must explain the risks, benefits, and alternatives (Shah et al., 2022). The patient must agree to the therapy after understanding the risks and advantages. Documenting informed consent should comprise five components: the procedure’s nature, risks and advantages, feasible alternatives, risks and benefits, and patient understanding.
For informed consent to be legitimate, certain conditions must be met. First, the consenting party must be capable of making independent judgments. Secondly, the subject must grasp the risks and benefits of the proposed treatment. Thirdly, the patient must be given ample time to weigh the risks and benefits of the proposed treatment. People shouldn’t be rushed or coerced into making a decision; they should be given time to ask questions and consider their options (Shah et al., 2022). The patient must agree they understand the risks and advantages of the recommended treatment.
Reasonable Person Standard
One of the acceptable legal approaches to adequate informed consent is the reasonable person standard, a legal standard used to determine whether a person can be held liable for negligence or a tort. It focuses on the information a typical patient needs to comprehend the decision (Shah et al., 2022). The criterion is founded on the idea that a reasonable person would take the same care to prevent injury to himself or another person.
Importance of Informed Consent in Medical Care
In medical care, informed consent is essential because it enables patients to choose treatments they want or do not want based on all available facts. Additionally, it allows the patient to collaborate with their healthcare professional in making decisions (Cohen, 2020). Furthermore, it shields healthcare professionals from liability by demonstrating that the patient was aware of the risks and advantages of a particular treatment and voluntarily consented to it.
Relationship between Informed Consent and Ethics and Relevant Ethical Principles
Informed consent is a vital ethical and legal concept in modern healthcare. The informed consent process is critical to ethical healthcare because it ensures that patients can make healthcare decisions. Informed consent is subject to several ethical considerations. To begin, informed consent is based on autonomy, emphasizing that individuals can make their own life choices. Additionally, informed consent is founded on beneficence, which holds that healthcare professionals should act in the best interests of their patients. Finally, informed consent is founded on the nonmaleficence principle, which states that medical personnel should not cause harm to patients (Varkey, 2020). Consent with awareness ensures that proposed healthcare measures will not harm patients.
Hospital’s Responsibility in Insuring Informed Consent
A hospital is accountable for a few essential factors to provide informed consent. First, the hospital must disclose all information needed for a reasonable person to decide whether to have surgery or treatment. Additionally, the hospital must ensure that the patient understands this information. The healthcare personnel must therefore take the time to explain the content to the patient and answer any questions they may have. In conclusion, the hospital must ensure that the patient’s consent is freely and voluntarily given.
References
464 F2d 772 Canterbury v. Spence. (n.d.). Legal Resources | OpenJurist. Web.
Cohen, I. G. (2020). Informed consent and medical artificial intelligence: What to tell the patient?SSRN Electronic Journal. Web.
Shah, P., Thornton, I., Turrin, D., & Hipskind, J. E. (2022). Informed consent – StatPearls – NCBI bookshelf. National Center for Biotechnology Information. Web.
Varkey, B. (2020). Principles of clinical ethics and their application to practice. Medical Principles and Practice, 30(1), 17-28. Web.