Overview

Substantial efforts have been made to reform the physician-patient relationship, particularly towards replacing the ""silent world of doctor and patient"" with informed patient participation in medical decision-making. This ""new ethos of patient autonomy"" has especially insisted on the routine provision of informed consent for all medical interventions. Strongly supported by most bioethicists and the law, as well as more popular writings, it seems clear that informed consent has, at best, been received in a lukewarm fashion by most clinicians, many simply rejecting what they commonly refer to as the ""myth of informed consent"". The purpose of this text is to defuse this seemingly intractable controversy by offering an effective operational model of informed consent. This goal is pursued first by reviewing and evaluating, in detail, the agendas, arguments and supporting materials of its proponents and detractors. A comprehensive review of empirical studies of informed consent is provided, as well as detailed reflection on the common clinician experience with attempts at informed consent and the exercise of autonomy by patients. Ultimately, informed consent is recast as a management tool for pursuing clinically and ethically important values. The model incorporates a flexible, anticipatory approach that recognizes that no static, generic ritual can legitimately pursue the quite variable values that may be at stake with different patients in different situations. Finally, efficiency of provision is addressed by not pursuing the unattainable and ancillary. Throughout, the traditional principle of beneficence is appealed to towards articulating an operational model of informed consent as an intervention that is likely to change outcomes at the bedside for the better.

Full Product Details

9780792320296

Table of Contents

Reviews

'Stephen Wear, in this fine monograph, understands fully the problems with patient autonomy and informed consent. In fact he outlines with clarity the problems with complete informed consent ... In addition to Wear's informed consent process and the studies either supporting or not supporting its prevalence this book offers the reader a basic outline of medical ethics in regard to informed consent ... I recommend this book with great enthusiasm.' The Journal of Medical Humanities, 16:2, 1995

'Stephen Wear, in this fine monograph, understands fully the problems with patient autonomy and informed consent. In fact he outlines with clarity the problems with complete informed consent ... In addition to Wear's informed consent process and the studies either supporting or not supporting its prevalence this book offers the reader a basic outline of medical ethics in regard to informed consent ... I recommend this book with great enthusiasm.' The Journal of Medical Humanities, 16:2, 1995

Stephen Wear, in this fine monograph, understands fully the problems with patient autonomy and informed consent. In fact he outlines with clarity the problems with complete informed consent ... In addition to Wear's informed consent process and the studies either supporting or not supporting its prevalence this book offers the reader a basic outline of medical ethics in regard to informed consent ... I recommend this book with great enthusiasm.' The Journal of Medical Humanities, 16: 2, 1995

Author Information

Tab Content 6

Countries Available