Discussion 7

“Patient Consent and Legal Reporting in Health Care” Please respond to the following:

• * From the scenario, evaluate the efficacy of both the documentation protocols requiring patient consent by physicians and the legal reporting requirements, as they apply to protecting patients’ rights. Examine the primary way in which such documentation could help both physician and patient in the event of litigation.
• Analyze the major professional roles that physicians and nurses play, as they apply to following the requirement for obtaining patient consent. Examine the process whereby health care professionals can legitimately challenge patients’ rights to refuse treatment, based on the condition of verbal, written, or implied consent.

Response Marquetta:

“Patient Consent and Legal Reporting in Health Care” Please respond to the following:

• From the scenario, evaluate the efficacy of both the documentation protocols requiring patient consent by physicians and the legal reporting requirements, as they apply to protecting patients’ rights. Examine the primary way in which such documentation could help both physician and patient in the event of litigation.

From the scenario, it was gleaned that documentation protocol requiring patient consent is necessary to ensure patient’s rights and safety. Patients must be free from abuse, or coercion. Informed consent is one way to ensure patients’ rights are not violated. Through informed consent, the physician has a duty to disclose sufficient information to enable the patient to make an informed decision after carefully evaluating his or her options and preferences. While the patient has a right to make an informed decision, it is based on his or her competence to do so. If the court determines that the patient is not competent, they will appoint an agent or a family member as power of attorney (POA) which gives them authorization to make medical/financial decisions for the patient.

Documentation can help both the physician and the patient in the event of litigation. It is often said that “If it is not documented it never happened.” Even if there is no verbatim documentation recounting the conversation the physician had with the patient, his or her chart should include labs, orders, and nurses’ notes (which includes other interdisciplinary team members), diagnosis, why the physician made a particular decision and course of treatment. If the physician and other members of the interdisciplinary team neglect to have sufficient documentation, the patient could win in the event he or she decided to take the physician to court.

• Analyze the major professional roles that physicians and nurses play, as they apply to following the requirement for obtaining patient consent. Examine the process whereby health care professionals can legitimately challenge patients’ rights to refuse treatment, based on the condition of verbal, written, or implied consent.

Nurses generally do not have a duty to advise patients regarding particular procedures or the risks, benefits, or alternatives to those procedures. The nurses are sometimes held responsible to make certain an informed consent form has been properly filled out by the patent and some hospitals allow nurses take the consent form to the patient for the patient to sign. But, it is the duty and responsibility of the physician to inform the patient of all procedural risks, benefits, or alternatives. As autonomous individuals, patients have a right to control their medical care through consent or the refusal of treatment. Every person has a legal right to reject treatment but the hospital is still responsible for informing the patient of the risks associated with their decision.

References

Pozgar, G. D. & Santucci, N. (2016). Legal aspects of health care administration. (12th ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Response Geanine:

From the scenario, evaluate the efficacy of both the documentation protocols requiring patient consent by physicians and the legal reporting requirements, as they apply to protecting patients’ rights. Examine the primary way in which such documentation could help both physician and patient in the event of litigation.

As the scenario stated, not all consents are given in a written form. We must keep in mind that not all patients can sign or give verbal consent for treatment. Before any patient is treated, consent for treatment must be issued. Now we know that there are many types of consents. For instance, written, verbal, implied, statutory, and judicial among others. There is also a requirement to get consents from patients in order to release their medical information. Thus, patients have the right to know all treatment information and side effects that those treatments might cause. All medical personnel must disclose all details and implications of treatments fully as well as to keep their patient’s information secure and confidential. We must keep in mind that all facilities or medical offices must acquire their consent. It is an excellent tool for medical facilities to cover their basis with their consent forms and policies.

Having patients fill out consent prevents a good chunk of medical negligence and therefore, reduces lawsuits against the physicians. “Permission to touch a patient by obtaining consent is an important defense to a claim of unlawful touching or trespass to the person. Consent, however, provides more than a defense to a claim of trespass to the person—it goes to the very heart of the propriety of treatment.”(Griffin, 2017 p 563). Having consents signed in medical circumstances, and full disclosure form medical facilities provide benefits for practitioners and patients. It is advantageous for both parties and can reduce many headaches. It is well known that all medical facilities have many lives on their hands. Therefore, all measures must be taken to provide full disclosure to their patients and also to ensure that their medical information is kept safe and private.

Analyze the major professional roles that physicians and nurses play, as they apply to following the requirement for obtaining patient consent. Examine the process whereby health care professionals can legitimately challenge patients’ rights to refuse treatment, based on the condition of verbal, written, or implied consent.

Physicians, nurses, and clinical personnel have the responsibility to acquire the appropriate consents from patients before initiating any treatment. Physicians must inform all patients all their risks and side effects of any treatment that might take place. Patients must understand and agree with all of the treatment plans read by the physicians. After knowing all the risks and implications, it is optimal that the patients can sign the consents. As we all know, there are some instances where patients are not able to agree verbally or sign any consents. For example, patients in critical condition or minors that are not able to sign for their consent. Physicians must call for family members authorized to make medical decisions for patients, and guardians in the case of minors. Therefore, all medical treatments must accompany full disclosure of risks and procedures and must also accompany consent from the patient. We must keep in mind that patients are entitled to refuse treatment, but physicians must ensure that the refusal with consequences agreement is recorded in al patients’ documentation. “Treatment refusal is a more complex phenomenon than non-adherence as it requires an affirmative act that goes beyond more passive acts of not filling prescriptions, taking medication sporadically, or forgetting to take medication.”( Halioua, 2015 p 396).

References

Griffith, R. (2017). Obtaining a real consent. British Journal of Community Nursing, 22(11), 563–565. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjcn.2017.22.11.563

Halioua, B., Maury Le Breton, A., de Fontaubert, A., Roussel, M.-E., & Stalder, J.-F. (2015). Treatment refusal among patients with psoriasis. Journal of Dermatological Treatment, 26(5), 396–400. https://doi.org/10.3109/09546634.2014.992385

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