Informed Consent 2.0 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Informed Consent 2.0

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inreb

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Wondering about other peoples experiences with medical consent forms.
Went for a minor procedure this afternoon. Consultation last week. Was handed an informed consent form. Oh ya, I'd forgotten about that. Sat down to 4 pages of reading. As I worked thru it my blood started to boil. No, most of these items had not been discussed and I'm not informed. I should have asked for the form last week and read over it at my leisure. My bad. So I gave it back to the receptionist and walked out.
So, how much weight do you put onto these consent forms?
 
What do you mean by weight, exactly? Does it work for them to legally establish consent? Sure, particularly the way they're usually presented (nurse hands you a form, tells you in a serious voice the worst things that could happen, you sign it and wonder if you're ever going to wake up alive, etc)

I know with some procedures, some of the worst case scenarios presented are solely caused by ham-fisted/complacent docs, and I'm not too worried about them, especially if I am familiar with the doctor. I have received some rough treatment at the hands of an intern though...
 
By weight I guess I mean do you just sign it as a formality because you're satisfied with the little verbal blurb you were given the week before or do you comb over it in detail horrified by "possible" snafus that, you know, only happen to other people?
 
Oh. Well... honestly? It depends. If it was something I've been waiting months for, I'll probably sign it anyways because I don't want to restart the clock on the whole thing. If it was something scheduled two weeks ago, I would probably have a chat with my good ole doctor friend who had a few things slip from his mind
 
Those are for the most part a cover your *** for the doctor. As I have mentioned in other threads, I am a lab tech in a hospital, so I draw blood throughout the whole hospital, and some days I work the outpatient department. Part of that involves our pre admit patients, like what you went for last week. And I too have to get them to sign, then the day of their procedure they are given the forms you mentioned to read over and sign. Now you do have a point, your doc should have gone over all the what ifs with you at your consultation, his bad if he didn't. With working here I have seen the 1% chance of something happening happen, more often than you would think. But for the most part the docs that do the procedures, especially the smaller ones have done them a thousand times and could do them in their sleep, but ***** happens sometimes. So I guess it's up to you, but if it was not a major surgery and you have been waiting you probably should have read over the forms and signed them and had your procedure done.
 
I read everything that someone want's me to sign. I don't care if it's 1 page or 10. If I have any questions about the content, or feel that is was not explained in the verbal blurb I will ask for clarification.

I make sure to take extra time to review if the person asking me to sign it gets huffy and tells me to hurry up and just sign it.

And almost every time if it's a consent form or a stupid general contractors "safety" check list I sign someone else's name. They never actually check to see if your signature is correct. I can't tell you how many GTA jobsites "M. Mouse" has done the safety briefing for.
 
People need to take charge of thier own health care. If its a minor procedure, then its less likely to have complications. But you need to ask questions and read up on what your having done if you are concerned. Most doctors are like car mechanics, they can and will fix most problems, tell you lots about it or not so much. Your in charge of your own destiny to a degree.
I'd have signed the forms without reading them and had the work done, thats me.

But real world example, wife goes to doctor because she has a kidney issue. Is prescribed meds. She has a low blood pressure issue as well, Pharma says why are your taking this?? she says its the prescrip why do you ask?? Pharma says NEVER take this if you have low blood pressure or a kidney problem, wife says WTF??? She has had the same doctor 25yrs. And she works in the medical business.......
 
Under "normal" circumstances I'm of Jay72's mind and just go ahead and sign because of routine and they wouldn't do anything to deliberately hurt you and what options do you really have anyway. But due to some eye opening experiences where elective procedures are involved I am much more on alert, per Torren.
This particular procedure started out as an inquiry about lasering a fairly small sunspot on my temple. That's all I wanted. At consultation that grew to much larger area including forehead and past the hairline. I thought why not? I was given the usual used car salesman routine and a colour brochure and sent on my way. Light google search turned up more infotainment on the procedure. The informed consent form was not so gentle. Of particular concern was the potential to damage hair follicals. Because I have your typical male pattern blandness I keep it very short and/or shaved. But I'm not into the patchy look.

Question for Jay72: is the informed consent form a controlled document? Can a patient take a photo copy home? I was informed cannot take copy home at the blood donor clinic.
 
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crankcall said:
But real world example, wife goes to doctor because she has a kidney issue. Is prescribed meds. She has a low blood pressure issue as well, Pharma says why are your taking this?? she says its the prescrip why do you ask?? Pharma says NEVER take this if you have low blood pressure or a kidney problem, wife says WTF??? She has had the same doctor 25yrs. And she works in the medical business.......
Click to expand...

Pharmacists really are great like that. Its not that the DR's dont know its just that there are so many interactions thats its hard to keep track of this is honestly its why we need a proper centralized medical DB. Shame the government cant but trusted to run an effective project to pull it together.
 
Sorry for the slow reply inreb, I wads sleeping, gotta love nights. To answer your question best i can...the form I get the patients to sign is controlled and stays in the hospital. All it states is that the person was in on said day, and that I have taken their blood I sign and print my name on that part, and that they have check over all labels and their hospital bracelet to make sure all of their personal info is correct, ie name birthday. Then it states they are to come in on such and such date for whatever they are having done. So that doesn't leave the hospital. The day of the procedure or surgery they are given what you were talking about down in the waiting area before they go in. So not sure if they could bring that home.
I'm guessing from what you said it was a dermatologist that you were seeing, and I have never deaslt with them, they usually do whatever procedure right in the office.
Now if its a sun spot, get it taken care of dude! Not something to mess with, and remember, looking up medical stuff on the net, you only see the bad. If you are not comfortable with that doc get referred to a different one. Hope that helped.
 
Thanks Jay72
 
If somebody was aiming a laser beam at my temple, and I wasn't James Bond, I'd have questions.
 
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