Consent Health Dictionary

The legal term describing a patient’s agreement to a doctor performing an operation, arranging drug treatment, or carrying out diagnostic tests.

Strictly, consent is valid only if the patient has been fully informed about the purpose of the procedure, the likely outcome, and any complications and side effects.

Consent cannot be given by children or by people with serious mental disorders, but a relative may give or withhold consent on their behalf.

The patient’s consent is also needed before a doctor supplies confidential information to an insurance company, employer, or lawyer.

See “informed consent”.

The granting of permission, agreement, assent or approval. In any research on human beings, each potential subject must be adequately informed of the aims, methods, sources of funding, any possible conflicts of interest, institutional affiliations of the researcher, the anticipated benefits and potential risks of the study, and the discomfort it may entail. The subject should be informed of the right to abstain from participation in the study or to withdraw consent to participate at any time without reprisal. After ensuring the subject has understood the information, the researcher should then obtain the subject’s freely given informed consent, preferably in writing. If the consent cannot be obtained in writing, the non-written consent must be formally documented and witnessed.

n. agreement to undergo any medical treatment or to participate in medical research. Three criteria must be met for consent to be legally valid, namely that the patient must: (i) have capacity to make a choice; (ii) be provided with sufficient information (see informed consent) as to the nature of treatment, its likely consequences, and the possible effects of not having treatment; (iii) be in a position to decide voluntarily, i.e. without external pressure or influence, which may entail giving the patient time to consider the options. In addition, the patient should be informed that they can change their mind about treatment at any point. Valid consent usually provides a legal defence against the charge of *battery (trespass against the person). Claims of *negligence may be brought if the doctor discloses insufficient or inadequate information or fails to answer the patient’s questions and address his or her concerns. Consent need not be in writing, but the more invasive the treatment proposed the greater the need for evidence of consent to be recorded. Signed consent forms are commonly used for this purpose, and are legally required when recruiting a subject to a clinical trial. Valid consent is not required in an emergency or where a patient lacks capacity. The concept of *therapeutic privilege formerly provided a further exception to the requirement that patients should give valid consent, but its scope of application is now much more narrowly defined. See also assent; autonomy.