Without informed consent, any invasive procedure becomes an assault. The prevailing legal and ethical standard is that the physician has a fiduciary duty to give enough information to the patient so that a reasonable person can make an informed decision to accept or refuse the proposed treatment. The patient's frailty, delirium and/or dementia, and end-of-life concerns and expectations can make informed consent a difficult task. This review examines informed consent requirements for adults and provides communication tools to enable shared decision making while engendering patient-physician trust.
Copyright © 2015 SIR. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.