Failure to Provide Informed Consent Is Usually Research Paper

failure to provide informed consent is usually analyzed under negligence principles. Some states view the standard as to what a reasonable patient would want to know, whereas others view the standard as to what a reasonable physician would provide. Which standard is preferable? Why?

The difference between the reasonable patient standard vs. The reasonable physician standard reflects the fact that a layperson's conception of risk is different than the perspective of a trained professional. "The Reasonable Patient Standard simply says the doctor has to disclose all information which would influence you, or any other reasonable person, in deciding whether or not to go ahead" (The reasonable patient standard in informed consent, n.d, JDMD).

The difference between a patient's perspective and a physician's perspective can perhaps best be illustrated in the following example. In 2009, "a government medical task force recommended major changes in breast cancer screening guidelines...suggesting that most women should not begin getting routine mammograms until age 50, and then only once every two years" (Breast cancer screening should begin at age 50, panel finds, 2012, PBS). Many women were outraged, even though statistically speaking, unless they are in a high-risk category, earlier screening does not result in improved health outcomes and can result in increased anxiety due to false positives.However, quite often patients want to know 'just in case,' for their individual peace of mind, if they may have a potentially cancerous growth. Similarly, patients often demand antibiotics for themselves or their children, even if an infection may be viral, 'just in case' the antibiotic might be helpful. This had led, some feel, to an increase in antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria.

However, although the 'reasonable patient' standard is extremely problematic, the problem with the 'reasonable physician' standard is that it denies the patient a great deal of autonomy over his or her own body. For example, from a physician's perspective, an antidepressant drug that causes a patient 20 lbs. Of weight gain may not seem like much, in light of the alleviation of the patient's symptoms. From the patient's perspective, this might be unacceptable, and….....