Running head: HEALTHCARE ETHICS: INFORMED CONSENT 1

Healthcare Ethics: Informed Consent

Student’s Name

Institution
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Healthcare Ethics: Informed Consent

Scenario 2: Informed Consent

A nurse notices that the physician obtained informed consent from a patient with a

diagnosed mental deficit in the absence of family members. Also, the physician failed to

disclose to the patient all relevant information regarding a new procedure. The ethical

principles of concern in this situation include informed consent, human autonomy, and duty

of care.

Informed consent is at the heart of patient-centered care, an approach to medical

treatment where patients participate actively in their treatment. Physicians play the role of

educators to ensure that patients have adequate information to make decisions that reflect

their own preferences and values. Informed consent is based on the doctrine of human

autonomy: humans are free to make decisions affecting their lives, including any form of

treatment (Murray, 2012). In the principle of informed consent, physicians are required by

law to disclose enough information for the patient to make an “informed” decision;

otherwise, they risk legal action. Information disclosed includes the condition being treated,

benefits and risks of proposed treatment or procedure, anticipated results, and possible

alternative forms of treatment (Murray, 2012). For mentally disabled patients, immediate

family members (parents, spouses, or siblings) give informed consent on behalf of the patient.

Actions that the nurse would take to address identified ethical issues include

disclosing to the family all the relevant information to the family about the treatment and to

report a case of misconduct by the physician to the appropriate authorities. Nurses have a

moral duty of care to patients (Dowie, 2017). Furthermore, the actions are in line with both

Provision 2 of the American Nurses Association’ (ANA) Code of Ethics -the nurse’s primary

commitment is to the patient, whether an individual, family, group, community or population

HEALTHCARE ETHICS: INFORMED CONSENT 3

and Provision 4- the nurse has a responsibility to make decisions and take action consistent

with the obligation to promote health and provide optimal care (Olson & Stokes, 2016).

The above scenario is comparable to the treatment of a patient with schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that compromises the ability of a patient to make an

informed decision concerning treatment (Bitter et al., 2015). In such a case, the

accompanying immediate family member is consulted by the physician to give informed

consent.
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References

Bitter, I., Fehér, L., Tényi, T., & Czobor, P. (2015). Treatment adherence and insight in

schizophrenia. Psychiatria Hungarica: A Magyar Pszichiatriai Tarsasag tudomanyos

folyoirata, 30(1), 18-26.

Dowie, I. (2017). Legal, ethical and professional aspects of duty of care for nurses. Nursing

Standard, 32.

Murray, B. (2012). Informed consent: what must a physician disclose to a patient?. AMA

Journal of Ethics, 14(7), 563-566.

Olson, L. L., & Stokes, F. (2016). The ANA code of ethics for nurses with interpretive

statements: Resource for nursing regulation. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 7(2), 9-

20.