Importance Of Consent In Health Care

Medical treatment helped millions of people, but there are responsibilities that all health care professionals must abide by to ensure patients’ rights are supported. The established presumption is that every adult of sound mind has the right to decide what will be done to his or her body. Before any treatment is carried out on the patients’ body by any HCP, their consent must be obtained. Consent to treatment can be verbal, written or gestured/implied. The patient must have the capacity or competence, consent is given voluntarily and covers the procedure in question and the patient was informed clearly of the treatment and their risks. An ACD constitute valid legal consent if the consent is obtained adequately. A patient is told their diagnosis, their possible future treatment and risk factors of treatment before signing an ACD. …show more content…
A patient refusing particular treatment may pose an ethical issue for a health care professional. Beneficence is an ethical theory that states action that is carried for the benefit of others and to help or prevent harms or simply improve a situation for others. As a nurse, we are expected to refrain from causing harm and have obligations to help our patients. However, if a patient refuses certain life saving treatment, a nurse may disagree with this choice but the patient has the capacity and competency to