Informed consent: A bridge towards change in the physician-patient relationship

• Published in: Revista cubana de cardiologia y cirugia cardiovascular Vol. 18; no. 1; pp. 40 - 48
• Main Authors: Irma Matos Santos, Francisco Bacallao San Julian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: ECIMED 01-01-2012
• Subjects: Informed consent; physician-patient relationship
• ISSN: 0864-2168; 1561-2937

The informed consent is a gradual process that is based on physician-patient relationship where the latter receives sufficient and comprehensibleinformation from the former, in order to take part in decision making with respect to diagnosis, treatment and knowledgeguidedresearch. Patient cooperation must be achieved without coercion and the physician must not abuse his potential, psychologicalinfluence on the patient.The physician-patient relationship is not unique and stagnant. Rather, it is a complex and progressive encounter. This substantialchange in the relationship between the medical professional and the patient, which transforms the traditional authoritative and verticalscheme in another type of democratic and horizontal relationship, is implied when informed consent is practiced as a process. The veryname ‘informed consent’ implies two characteristics: willingness and information. An adequate informed consent process createsgreater acceptance of the proposed measures by the patient.Consent is a fundamental right of the patient and an ethical duty of the physician. Medical organizational structures must adopt theresponsibility of propelling the practice of this ethical setting through information and systematic training of peers, so that necessarychange of outlook and professional and moral culture can be propitiated. The cardiovascular surgery group may need to adapt theinformed consent to new bioethical concepts without creating discrepancies with respect to Cuban sociological characteristics.