Question

1. Explain the legal concepts of standard of care and informed consent. Provide an example.

Answer 1

Ans) The legal concepts of standard of care and informed consent with an example.

Standard of care:

- Legal requirements for nursing practice that describe minimum acceptable nursing care.

- Failure to meet the standard is negligence, and any damages resulting therefrom may be claimed in a lawsuit by the injured party. The problem is that the "standard" is often a subjective issue upon which reasonable people can differ.

- For example, standard of care in the case of a cancer patient could include a recommendation of chemotherapy or surgery.

Informed consent:

- A patient's agreement to have a medical procedure after receiving full disclosure of the risks, benefits, alternatives and consequences of refusal.

- States have developed informed consent laws to govern certain types of communication between health providers and patients. In general, informed consentassumes that you are legally able to make your own decisions.

Example:

Patient has been having severe abdominal pain and bleeding, and her OB/GYN has determined that she has fibroid tumors that must be removed. As she is being prepared for the surgery, the staff has her sign a consent form for the fibroid removal, but there is no mention on the form of a hysterectomy. If, while the surgeon is operating, he determines that a hysterectomy is necessary, he has no consent for the procedure.

Doing the procedure without explicit consent exposes the doctor, and the hospital, to serious liability if something goes wrong, or if patient is upset because she may have chosen an alternative treatment. If he decides not to proceed with the surgery, with the though of rescheduling a hysterectomy, the patient is exposed to the additional risks of another major surgery.