What are the requirements for informed consent?
• The patient or surrogate must be • competent, that is, capable of understanding consequences of the consent and capable of making a free choice. • free from coercion or undue influence. • The health care provider must provide and make understandable necessary information for making a free, intelligent treatment decision and must make sure that the patient or surrogate understands the information (30). • The only way to know if the patient understands the information is through reflective conversation with the health care provider. • The health care provider must recommend what he or she takes to be the optimal option and is free to persuade, without pressuring, the patient of this option (37). • Note that legal informed consent, e.g. signing a waiver, does not meet the moral standards of informed consent defined here. • What is required for a person to be competent? • One must presume that adult patients are competent. • Competence to make medical decisions requires that the patient
