Meaningful Consent From a Willfully Noninformed Patient

Meaningful Consent From a Willfully Noninformed Patient
Michael E. Bowdish, Peter F. Crookes
The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, December 2019; 108(6) pp 1613-1614
Abstract
The cornerstone of contemporary medical practice is the belief that the patient has a right to self-determination.1 A doctor who performs a procedure in the absence, or in defiance, of the patient’s expressed wishes is guilty of battery. This is rare nowadays. It is more common for it to be alleged that the potential downside of treatment was not explained clearly enough, and that if it had been, the patient would not have consented to the procedure. Or that, because no alternatives were offered, there was de facto coercion to undergo a particular procedure.