Consequences of Breach of Informed Consent in Clinical Cases

Informed consent 1
INFORMED CONSENT
Student’s Name
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Informed consent 2
In the medical profession, health care providers are obligated to clearly explain a
treatment process to their patients. This process of informing the patient in a detailed explanation
of what medication and procedures are to be conducted is called consent. Consent can either be
informed or implied. Informed consent is an important form of consent especially where
procedures are involved. As stated by Grady (2015), it is a form of consent where the patient
vividly agrees on the treatment and procedures to be performed on them and is usually in written
form. Implied consent on the other hand involves the type of consent where the doctor assumes
consent depending on the current situation. The aim of this discussion is to explain the
consequences of a breach of informed consent in a clinical case and relate it to what law and
ethics says about it.
There are various laws and rules that regulate and govern the medical practitioners. Some
of these rules are outlined within the Hippocratic Oath of medical practice. In the oath, there are
pledges on how to aim at conserving human life and prioritizing it no matter the circumstance.
The medical and practitioners board of any country outlines laws and regulations to be followed
by any medical practitioner failure to which attracts penalties. Informed consent must be sought
before any medical procedures and treatment process is performed on a patient (Feinstein et al,
2018). When medics involve patients in research or surgical procedures, informed consent must
be always sought whereby the practitioner clearly explains the process of the procedures to be
conducted and ensures that the patient clearly understands (Katz, Webb & Committee on
Bioethics, 2016). The practitioner should also explain the consequences associated with this
procedures and ensure the patient grants permission to go on with the procedure.
A clinical case is given of a patient called James, a 52 year old male who presented with
severe abdominal cramps and bloating. He complained of severe diarrhea with blood stained