Legal changes to informed consent and application to clinical practice in surgery

Legal changes to informed consent and application to clinical practice in surgery
Research Article
Marco Dalle Carbonare, Elizabeth A Gruber
Medico-Legal Journal, 6 July 2023
Abstract
For consent to be fully informed, it must be tailored to each patient, who must be appraised of alternative treatments (including that of no treatment) and informed of the material risks which an individual would wish to know and consider significant. This also includes Covid-19 related risks. Whilst surgeons had at times to offer sub-optimal treatments due to pressures caused by the pandemic, patients should still be given the choice to delay their treatment. Consent obtained remotely via digital technology must comply with the same requirements as in a face-to-face setting.