Consent to Treatment: Legal and Ethical Considerations in Healthcare

This essay provides an overview of consent to treatment in medical procedures, emphasizing its relatively recent integration into healthcare practices. It defines consent as the process of obtaining patient permission before medical interventions, encompassing a wide range of procedures from physical examinations to critical interventions and end-of-life care. The essay highlights the importance of voluntary and informed consent, where patients make decisions based on complete information about risks, benefits, and alternatives. It explores different forms of communication used to obtain consent, including verbal and non-verbal methods, particularly in cases where patients are unable to communicate verbally. The essay discusses the legal and ethical aspects of consent, referencing the Consent to Medical Treatment and Palliative Care Act in Australia, including modifications related to substitute decision-makers and end-of-life care. The essay concludes by emphasizing the positive impact of respecting patient autonomy, improving patient satisfaction, and safeguarding healthcare providers from legal issues.

Consent to Treatment
Student Name
University Name
Student Note

Introduction
Consent to treatment is a relatively new addition to the medical treatment procedure. This refers
to the process of acquiring the permission or consent of the patient, before they are provided with
any medical treatment by a healthcare facility. This method is applicable to a varied range of
medical processes from physical examination, general assessments to critical procedures like
craniotomy or organ donation procedures or even during caring for the dying.
The consent should be voluntary where the patient can decide whether they want to choose what
procedures they want to undergo or they trust the healthcare professionals to make that decision
for them. The consent should also be informed, where the patient is given all the required
information of the procedure they are about to undergo, including the risks, benefits, and
alternatives.
Discussion
Consent is a very crucial part of a medical procedure and can be done via the means of verbal
communication or by documentation (Sahealth.sa.gov.au 2019). Verbal communication is often
only possible in mentally stable patients, who can be informed about the risks and significance of
the medical procedures they are about to undergo (Sahealth.sa.gov.au 2019). However, in cases,
where the medical procedure is to be done on a critically ill patient, who is not in a stable mental
state, and is incapable of making informed decisions, consent is often taken form their family
members in case there is no previous documentation of the patient’s consent regarding the matter
(Hall, Prochazka and Fink 2012). Another form of non-verbal communication is often seen in
healthcare facilities, where the patient, being unable to verbally communicate but mentally alert,

is told to give consent via non-verbal means of communication like – pointing, nodding and
more.
This process avails the benefits of effective communication between the patient and the
healthcare professionals in order to facilitate the complete exchange of information regarding the
employed medical treatment procedures. This enables the build trust between the healthcare
professionals and the patients as well as provides respect to the autonomy of the patients and
their right to decision (Gather and Vollmann 2013).
Even though the Consent to Medical Treatment and Palliative Care Act was first introduced in
Australia in the year 1995, the required modifications in the Act became effective in the year
2014 (Sahealth.sa.gov.au 2014). The changes incorporated directives that the healthcare
professionals can follow during situations where the patient is mentally incapable of taking
informed decisions, during emergencies and in cases of caring for the dying patients (Hall,
Prochazka and Fink 2012). This was collectively called the Advanced Care Directives Act 2013.
The most observable modification was the incorporation of Substitute decision makers, who
were appointed to consent for medical treatments in case for mentally incapable patients, if no
family members or friends were present to take the decision for them (Sahealth.sa.gov.au 2014).
The other most noticeable change was the amendments made for caring for the dying patients.
This act states that the healthcare professionals can help in the ending the life of terminally ill
patients, if the patient wishes to undergo the process of assisted suicide (Gather and Vollmann
2013).

Conclusion
The amount of respect, dignity and freedom it provides the patient, not only increases patient
satisfaction, but also improves patient outcome and avoids any legal issues, safeguarding the
physicians and healthcare providers in cases of unsuccessful medical procedures.

References
Gather, J. and Vollmann, J., 2013. Physician-assisted suicide of patients with dementia. A
medical ethical analysis with a special focus on patient autonomy. International journal of law
and psychiatry, 36(5-6), pp.444-453..
Hall, D.E., Prochazka, A.V. and Fink, A.S., 2012. Informed consent for clinical
treatment. Cmaj, 184(5), pp.533-540.
Sahealth.sa.gov.au (2014). Changes to Consent Factsheet : Changes to the Consent Act begin 1
July 2014. [online] Sahealth.sa.gov.au. Available at:
https://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/831cd2004459d97d896bab76d172935c/
Changes+to+Consent+Fact+Sheet+PC+20140613.pdf?
MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=ROOTWORKSPACE-831cd2004459d97d896bab76d172935c-
mMAqIC0 [Accessed 11 Sep. 2019].
Sahealth.sa.gov.au (2019). Consent to medical treatment and healthcare :: SA Health. [online]
Sahealth.sa.gov.au. Available at:
https://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/public+content/sa+health+internet/
health+topics/health+conditions+prevention+and+treatment/end+of+life/
consent+to+medical+treatment+and+healthcare [Accessed 11 Sep. 2019].