Nursing and Consent

According to the Oxford Dictionary consent is defined as ‘giving permission for something to happen or agreeing to do something’. They define confidentiality as ‘entrusted with private information and if something is intended to be kept secret or in confidence’ (Soanes and Hawker, 2005). As a healthcare professional consent and confidentiality are in place as protective vices, by gaining consent and keeping a patients confidentiality it protects both the patient and the healthcare professional. There are three types of consent: Verbal consent, consent in writing and implied consent. Depending on the situation each type of consent may not be acceptable. For example if a procedure is putting a patient at risk, is complex or invasive for example an operation, written consent is

Nurses are subject to a plethora of legal, ethical, and professional duties which can be very challenging on a day to day basis. Some of these duties include respecting a patient 's confidentiality and autonomy, and to recognize the duty of care that is owed to all patients. As nurses our duties are always professional; however there are legal implications if these duties are breached. We also must consider when it is okay as nurses to breach these duties and therefore ethical issues arise. As nurses one of our main priorities is to advocate for our patients, without our own personal feelings on the matter taking over.

In dementia care we often look to family, advocates other professionals and carers in order to gain consent when the individual no longer has the capacity.

This paper will critique a qualitative research study published in the Journal of Medical Ethics in 2004, By Dr Helen Aveyard, about how nurses manage patients who refuse nursing care procedures. The article explains how nurses view informed consent as not being essential to nursing care procedures.

The aim of this essay is to presents a critical analysis over the nursing dilemmas around capacity and her limitation by presenting example from the author’s practical experience. The names of the patients will be replaced with pseudonyms for confidentiality purposes according to the Nursing and Midwifery Council NMC(2015) Code of Conduct. Consent is often misunderstood. Mental Capacity is a complex topic and often health professionals tend to provide treatment which may be in the patient 's best interests but not always in accordance with his will and preferences thus adhering to Personal-Centred Approach. Further will be discussed Assessment of capacity and risk assessment, The Principle of Best Interests, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards(DOLS), accepting Advanced decisions if they are in place. Moral and ethical considerations asociated with mental capacity will be presented throughout the essay.

Mostly all nursing actions are an invasion of a person’s privacy and giving consent is carried out by going into the hospital or being treated at home. So one can say that consent is based on the principle of respect for a fellow human being.

The Human Rights Act 1998 upholds the person/patient rights to make decisions on whether to accept or decline treatment ("UKCEN: Ethical Issues - Consent", 2016).

In our day today lives we make complex decisions, continually weighing up the risks and benefits of our actions. However in the hospital environment, the Doctor knows best attitude has prevailed for many years, patients deemed unable to be involved in decisions regarding treatment. Development in law relating to consent has been slow, based on paternalistic approach and therapeutic privilege to decide treatment choice for patients. Whilst health care practice moved towards informed consent, the law lagged behind. In 2015 informed consent has finally been recognised in Law. The author will describe the changing attitude in the law of consent from 1950’s to present day and how these changes affected nurses duty to obtain consent from patients

It is a basic principle of law in this country that an adult, mentally competent person has the right to refuse treatment. The court of appeal has emphasised that provided the patient has the necessary mental capacity, which is assessed in relation to the decision to be made, then he or she can refuse to give consent for a good reason, a bad reason or no reason at all (Dimond, 2008). However, in this case it is in the best interest of the patient that the MDT administrated medication covertly. The legal issue identified in this case relates to the issue of consent. Within the case study professionalism had to challenged when it came to the capacity of the patient. The MDT had to resolve the legal issues associated with capacity and consent.

The research was conducted to explore the issue, and ethical principles presented. Personal ethical viewpoint was given along with professional examples. The work was actively discussed with classmates and received compliments. In the Case: Lack of Consent and Patient Death physician’s failed to obtain the consent from the patient. The failure resulted in inappropriate procedure, which led to the patient’s death (Pozgar, p. 1243, 2012). The work included my opinion regarding court’s decision, analysis of ethical and legal dilemmas, analysis of failed hospital’s ethical duty to the patient, and personal intake for “What would I do” situation. I chose to present this piece of work as my exemplar as this module incorporated all aspects of the course, and included ethical and legal concepts from contemporary issues in nursing we studied for the duration of the

(Devereux, 2007, p. 196). In Australia, an adult is recognised as someone eighteen years of age or older (Townsend & Luck, 2013, p. 92). Children and those suffering from a mental illness or mental handicap are deemed incompetent and thus incapable of giving consent to treatment (Devereux, 2007, pp. 196-198). A child’s parent or guardian can lawfully give consent (White et al., 2010, p. 114).

There are different types of consent that can be gained by individual for a treatment to be carried out, for example, expressed consent can be given either written or in a verbal form (Tidy 2016a). Verbal consent can express through words, for example, agreeing for a blood pressure measurement to be taken (Farlex, 2003). Written consent is a legal documentation through the individual’s signature stating that they comply with treatment. Implied consent is the assumption that the patient concurs with the treatment as they haven’t denied it (NHS Scotland 2016). If a patient is unconscious there is no information or statement nearby to suggesting a decline of a treatment e.g. Religious reasoning for not taking a blood test, health professionals

Blackwell, w. (2014) states that we live in a society governed by an excessive extent of rules and regulations. Many of these rules apply to every individual within society for example rules relating to the use of public services; while other rules will focus and apply only to specific groups of individuals such as healthcare professionals. The aim of this assignment is to discuss the concept of consent in relation to the role of the nurse, with the purpose to demonstrate the ethical and legal implication of consent on nursing and professional practice.

The health care industry continually deals with the lives of individuals and is bound by the ethical and legal aspects that influence decisions of health care professionals in their clinical practice. This essay aims to discuss the various issues and ethical dilemmas that arise with regards to the consent of consumers. In the attempt to explore these points, different literatures are used to shed light on this topic. This paper begins by defining what consent is and the role of nurses or the health care team in being an advocate of the patient when requiring consent. It moves on with the discussion of ethical frameworks, which are recognized nationally and internationally, as these carry significant influences in health care decision-making. The essay also brings out the essence of ethical theories and its relevance to consent giving. It then tackles the similarities and differences of the Code of Ethics and ethical guidelines relevant to both nursing and midwives as both professions work closely in the care of mothers, children and families. Issues and views from experienced professionals in these fields are presented and critically compared. It then considers both ethical and legal aspects, which seeks arguments and rational implications. The last topic points to the social and spiritual factors pertinent to consent that impact the society particularly on the care of patients and concludes by summarising discussed points and arguments about consent.