Model Consent Form Template – Every person should be able to make informed decisions about their healthcare. Medical treatments can be invasive, so patients should be able to ultimately determine, based on known risks that their bodies should be treated. Thus, before medical professionals can administer treatments to patients, they must be given the process of informed consent.
Informed consent is a legal requirement under which a patient has been provided with detailed information about his or her physical condition and the treatment recommended by the physician who is acting as the patient’s physician. Once this information is received the patient is required to offer the physician consent to treat before any form of treatment is administered. Without informed consent from the patient the health professional cannot offer treatment.
Decision Making Capacity
In some instances, patients do not possess the ability to comprehend the options for treatment and the potential risks and benefits associated with each one. In other instances patients might not be able communicate their decisions to the health workers. If this happens the patient is said not to possess the proper capacity to make decisions. The family member, or court-appointed representative, then, is allowed to perform informed consent instead.
Patients who are strongly affected by their emotions – anxiety or fear, for example can be deemed to not possessing decision making capacity. People who are not conscious cannot take decisions on their independent of themselves, so outsiders must provide consent for treatment instead.
Items in an Model Consent Form Template
Certain elements are universally included in informed consent forms:
The patient’s medical condition/diagnosis
The treatment that is recommended by the doctor in charge
The risks and the benefits associated with this procedure
Alternative treatments that are available, as well as their benefits and risks
The risks and benefits associated with not accepting any treatment at all
Not only must these items be documented But they also need to been discussed by the patient. In this way, he or can be fully aware of all the details of the scenario and will be able to get immediate answers to any issues that may have arisen.
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