Informed Consent, Refusal, and Competence

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In the medical field today, whenever a procedure is going to be done on a patient, informed consent must be given to the doctor from the patient prior the procedure taking place. Informed consent is the approval given by the patient to the doctor for treatment. In the case being discussed today, an 80 year old patient, with a history of congestive heart failure, is in the doctor's office complaining of chest pains. After an examination, the doctor believes the best course of treatment would be to have a surgical procedure, in an attempt to save the patients life. During the examination however, the patient expresses the wish to just be able to die. There is no Living will or Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) on file. The patient’s wife is afraid of the surgery, while the daughter is for anything that could save her dads life.

The first thing that needs to take place in this situation is the determination of the competency of the patient. By using the Understand-and-Appreciate method of determining competency, if the patient understands the situation and all the options that are available to him; but also appreciates the options and understand the side effect of treatment or lack there of treatment , the patient is deemed confident. On the flip side, if the patient’s requests fall too far outside the realm of what would be considered normal, that could help in determining whether or not to override the patient’s wishes due to no longer being considered competent. It is the belief that “it is ethically justified to overrule the seriously irrational decision of a competent patient.” (Fredrick Adolf Paola, 2010)

Under the assumption that during the last five years of treating Patient X for congestive heart failure, he never men...

... middle of paper ...

...rd battle to fight at times. The reasoning behind the refusal may not make sense to everyone, but as long as the patient has been deemed competent, the patients’ right to choose their own medical care becomes number one priority. If, on the other hand, circumstances have found the patient not competent, moving forward to acquire consent from the next of kin of the court appointed surrogate of care is a must to ensure the patient receives the best medical care possible and results in an improved quality care of life for the patient.

Works Cited

Competency to make medical decisons. (n.d.). Retrieved 07 03, 2011, from Stanford. Edu: http://www.stanford.edu/group/psylawseminar/Competency.htm

Fredrick Adolf Paola, R. W. (2010). medical Ethics and Humanities. Juonesd and Bartlett Publiushers.

Lecture notes for HLT-305. (2011, 07 03). State University .

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