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Informed Consent: A Case Study
We will be concerned with both the morality of informed consent, which for our purpose now we may define as a process of communication between a physician and patient that results in the “patients authoritization to undergo a specific medical intervention” (AMA), and the legality status which is appropriate in this process. In the article “Antihypertensives and the Risk of Temporary Impotence: A Case Study in Informed Consent” by John D. ... Kramer is, nevertheless, morally pertinent in the case of informed consent. I will defend this by critically examining the doctrine of informed consent while upholding the moral principles of patient autonomy, patient self-determination, as well as the physician’s moral obligations to their patients. I will then argue that potential objections to informed consent can be met and that, on the whole, informed consent is morally and ethically the only consent.
I will begin with the discussion of what is entailed in the doctrine of informed consent. ... To be “informed” means that a patient be given (disclosed) material information to be able to make a decision regarding his or her body and health care. “Material information is information which the physician knows or should know would be regarded as significant by a reasonable person in the patient’s position when deciding to accept or reject a recommended medical procedure”(Informed Consent 83). The American Medical Association has clearly defined what information is material in understanding medical treatment to be able to make an informed decision. These include, but are not limited to: the patient diagnosis, the nature and purpose of a proposed treatment, alternatives, risks and benefits of the alternative treatment(s), and finally, the risks and benefits of not receiving or undergoing a treatment (AMA “Informed Consent” 1). ... Based on the principle of utility; informed consent will maximally benefit both the physician and patient. Fully disclosing all material needed to make an informed consent to treatment respects patient autonomy and can only cause good, which in return actually strengthens the trust of the patient in the physician.
Approximate Word count = 1568
Approximate Pages = 6.3
(250 words per page double spaced)
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