Civil Law Case Study: Consent, Treatment, and Legal Implications

This case study presents a scenario where a nurse, Shanon, is called to attend a 67-year-old patient experiencing fits. The central issue revolves around the patient's refusal of transport to a hospital despite her deteriorating condition due to an inoperable brain tumor. The assignment delves into the legal and ethical aspects of patient consent, highlighting the requisites for valid consent, including voluntariness, informed consent, and patient competence. The analysis considers the nurse's obligations, the patient's rights, and the exceptions where treatment can proceed without explicit consent, such as in life-threatening situations or when a guardian provides consent. The case examines whether Shanon can force the patient to go to the hospital, considering the patient's refusal and the potential impairment of her ability to consent. The conclusion supports the nurse's ability to force the patient to visit the hospital, emphasizing that the patient's refusal can be ignored in this case, given the patient's condition and the potential risks involved.

Running head: CIVIL LAW
Civil Law
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Facts
Shanon has been working a night shift in the middle of winter as a nurse in the Care and
Cure Hospital. She has been called to attend a 67-yeart-old fitting patient at a rural property
at night. After an extensive drive, Shanon arrive on scene to be advised that the patient has
fitted a few times over the past 24hrs, and is currently in a post-fit state. The owner of the
residence is the daughter of the patient, who provides her with further details about the
patient’s condition. The patient has an inoperable brain tumour and is required to travel to the
major hospital facility whenever changes are noted in her condition. This has increasingly
become more and more regular over the past 3 months. The trip takes 2 hours by road, which
requires a minimum overnight stay, to then return home within the following days. The
patient was due to take this trip earlier in the day but had refused the patient transport service
who attended, as she wished to stay at home with her family and see her time out with them
rather than in a hospital with strangers.
Issue
The issue in this case is whether Shanon can force the patient to visit the hospital. Whether
the refusal to extend consent towards the treatment needs to be ignored in this case.
Rule
A nurse needs to avail the consent of a person while extending treatment to him. She does
not have the right to provide treatment to a person who has refused to have the treatment that
the nurse has been offering. For the purpose of forming consent there are certain requisites
that are required to be assessed. Firstly, for being construed as a valid consent, the person
should have voluntarily consented towards the treatment that has been offered to him by the
nurse. Secondly, the person who has been offered a treatment needs to be made available

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with all the information that has been relevant with respect to the treatment (Moreton, 2015).
The patient has a right to be informed regarding the treatment that he has been availing for
the purpose of making consent. Any consent, which has been given by the patient not based
on detailed information about the treatment would be rendered void. Thirdly, the consent
needs to be given with respect to specific treatment that he has been availing. A nurse is
required to give the patient that particular treatment that he has been consented for. Fourthly,
the competence of a patient with respect to the formation of a decision is required to be
assessed before considering his consent towards the treatment. In this context, it can be stated
that a minor does not have the competence to give consent for the treatment. Every adult is
presumed to have the capacity to make a decision about health care, unless it can be
demonstrated that they do not have such capacity. The medical conditions where a temporary
or permanent capacity may lack are mental illness, impairment of ability to consent owing to
illness and unconsciousness. For the purpose of extending a decision, the a person must have
to show capacity are understanding of the treatment, processing the information of the
treatment and ability to communicate a decision. There are certain cases where the nurse can
proceed with the treatment irrespective of the consent of the patient. This includes when there
is a matter of life and death and when the consent has been provided by the guardian. The
case of inability to form a consent, the consent can be availed from the guardian (McDonald,
Eburn & Smith, 2016).
Application
In the present case, Shanon has been working a night shift in the middle of winter as a
nurse in the Care and Cure Hospital. She has been called to attend a 67-yeart-old fitting
patient at a rural property at night. This implies the patient to be a person who is not a minor
and would not be presumed to be incompetent to form a consent to the treatment. After an
extensive drive, Shanon arrive on scene to be advised that the patient has fitted a few times

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over the past 24hrs, and is currently in a post-fit state. The owner of the residence is the
daughter of the patient, who provides her with further details about the patient’s condition.
The daughter would be construed to be a guardian to the patient for the purpose of extending
consent to the treatment. The patient has an inoperable brain tumour and is required to travel
to the major hospital facility whenever changes are noted in her condition. This has
increasingly become more and more regular over the past 3 months. The trip takes 2 hours
by road, which requires a minimum overnight stay, to then return home within the following
days. This construes to be a matter of life and death. The patient was due to take this trip
earlier in the day but had refused the patient transport service who attended, as she wished to
stay at home with her family and see her time out with them rather than in a hospital with
strangers. This can be construed to be an impairment in the consenting power of the patient.
Conclusion
Shanon can force the patient to visit the hospital. The refusal to extend consent towards
the treatment needs to be ignored in this case.

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Reference
McDonald, F., Eburn, M., & Smith, E. (2016). Legal and ethical aspects of disaster
management. In Disaster Health Management (pp. 86-97). Routledge
Moreton, K. L. (2015). gillick: Judging Mid-childhood Competence In Healthcare Law
Reinstated: Judging Mid-childhood Competence In Healthcare Law. Medical Law
Review, 23(2), 303-314.