Informed Consent as a Fundamental Principle of Medical Ethics: An Examination of its Application in Nigerian Healthcare Settings

Informed Consent as a Fundamental Principle of Medical Ethics: An Examination of its Application in Nigerian Healthcare Settings
Onyegbule Kelechi Goodluck
Journal of Commercial and Property Law, 23 March 2025
Abstract
The patient’s right of consent to any medical treatment recommended by a medical practitioner is now internationally recognised. This consent is required by the premise of the individual’s inviolable right to choose and control his own health-care situations. Consent must be free, prior, and informed. Free indicates that permission is invalid if obtained through manipulation or coercion. Consent gained unwillingly, under duress or coercion, may result in a battery lawsuit. The consent must be granted voluntarily by a patient who has capacity to so do. Prior means that consent must be obtained adequately in advance of any authorisation granted by medical or hospital authorities, or the initiation of hospital activities that influence the patient’s health. Informed means that the patient’s agreement must be obtained only after complete and legally accurate disclosure of information about the proposed medical operation. The disclosure must be in a form that is both accessible and clear to the patient, including the nature, scope, duration, potential hazards, and foreseeable consequences of the medical operation. There must be complete disclosure of information about the treatment, benefit, danger, complications, and repercussions of such a procedure. Regarding a procedure or therapy that needs to be administered to the patient, the doctor gives all the information that is required. In Nigeria, the idea of informed, prior, and free consent is not widely recognized in the medical field. This is caused by multiple variables. First, there is the issue of Nigeria’s low literacy rate. Patients with limited literacy typically depend solely on the doctor’s judgement. The second factor is the lack of enforcement of the right to informed consent. Under Nigerian law, patients whose rights to informed consent have been violated have little recourse options. Bureaucracy also hinders the processes that are in place to enforce the right to informed consent. This article makes the case that the legal and institutional regimes for Nigeria’s informed consent laws are insufficient.