Volume 36 · Number 6
JUNE 2006

Informed Consent: Do You Know It When You See It?

Evaluating the adequacy of patient consent and the value of a lawsuit

By Michael Lamport Commons, PhD; Joseph Anthony Rodriguez, EdD; Kathryn Marie Adams, BS; Eric Andrew Goodheart, PhD; Thomas Gordon Gutheil, MD; Ellen Davis Cyr, MS

In the modern era of medical practice, informed consent is a central tenet of the health provider-patient relationship, as well as a subject of clinical research and, under unfortunate circumstances, an element in malpractice litigation. In the last context, failure to obtain proper informed consent may be an element of the claimed negligence in a malpractice suit. The classical elements of informed consent have been noted as information — the “informed” in informed consent; voluntarity — the “consent” in informed consent; and competence — the patient’s capacity to take in and process relevant information. The usual universe of information considered legally germane to decision making includes the risks and benefits of the proposed treatment, of other alternative treatments and of “no treatment.”

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Dr. Commons is assistant clinical professor, Program in Psychiatry and the Law, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Cambridge, MA. Dr. Rodriguez is a graduate student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Ms. Adams is research associate, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Goodheart is research associate, Dare Institute, Cambridge, MA. Dr. Gutheil professor, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School. Ms. Cyr is a graduate student at Salem State College, Salem, MA.

Address reprint requests to: Michael Lamport Commons, PhD, assistant clinical professor, Program in Psychiatry and the Law, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 234 Huron Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138; or e-mail [email protected].