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Legal aspects of consent
Author(s) -
Jones B.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
bju international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.773
H-Index - 148
eISSN - 1464-410X
pISSN - 1464-4096
DOI - 10.1046/j.1464-410x.2000.00292.x
Subject(s) - citation , medicine , library science , computer science
Consent, as developed through the common law over the last 3±4 decades, has become a central component of medical jurisprudence. The advice of Hippocrates: `perform these duties calmly and adroitly, concealing most things from the patient while you are attending to him. Give necessary orders with cheerfulness and sincerity, turning his attention away from what is being done to him; sometimes 1⁄41⁄4 sharply and emphatically, and sometimes comfort with solicitude and attention revealing nothing of the patient's future or present condition' hold no legal status. Rather this has been replaced by the concept espoused by Judge Cardozo: `every human being of adult years and sound mind has a right to determine what shall be done with his own body; when a Surgeon performs an operation without his patient's consent, he commits an assault for which he is liable in damages' [1]. This concept has been approved in the House of Lords [2]. The Canadian Courts have also approved this [3], where Judge Robins stated that `a competent adult is generally entitled to reject a speci®c treatment or all treatment or to select an alternate form of treatment even if the decision may entail risks as serious as death and may appear mistaken in the eyes of the medical profession or the community'.