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On Informed Consent

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Max Hamilton*
Affiliation:
The University of Leeds, Psychiatry Annexe, 30 Clarendon Road, Leeds LS2 9NZ

Extract

The tradition of medical practice is based on the assumption that the patients come to the doctor for professional advice and service. Having done so, they have the right to reject the advice or refuse the service, and to go elsewhere. There are a few exceptions to this general rule. Children do not come to doctors, they are brought to them. In that case, the rights pertain to the parents. Persons who are so seriously injured or ill that they cannot exercise their judgement, will be brought for treatment, and it is then assumed that the doctors will use their professional judgement and do their best, considering the circumstances, for them. This applied also to those patients who were mentally disturbed in such a way that they could not make proper decisions.

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Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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References

Appelbaum, P. S., Mirkin, S. A. & Bateman, A. L. (1981) Empirical assessment of competency to consent to psychiatric hospitalization. American Journal of Psychiatry, 138, 1170–6.Google Scholar
Cassileth, R. B., Zupkis, R. V., Sutton-Smith, K. & March, V. (1980) Informed consent—why are its goals imperfectly realized? New England Journal of Medicine, 302, 896900.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fellner, C. H. & Marshall, J. R. (1970) Kidney donors—the myth of informed consent. American Journal of Psychiatry, 126, 1245–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
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