about medical ethics and consent. informed consent

1. Ethics
1. A discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty an
obligation
2. A set of moral principles or values
3. A theory or system of moral values
4. The principles of conduct governing an individual or a group.
Ethics is the study of right conduct and a rational process for determining the
best course of action in the face of conflicting choices.

2. The four essential principles of ethics are:
1.Autonomy of Patients:
Patients body is his/her own. He/she has right to decide about operations and
procedures. When patients come to you, it is implied consent for routine
procedures. It is better to explain patient about every procedure and them
perform. When special procedures are done or stated, special consent is taken.
Physician must guide patients to take right decision.
2. Beneficence:
One must remember that whatever we do, it should be done for benefit of
patients.
3. Nonmaleficence: Do no harm.
4. Justice: Patient should get the best treatment and justice should be done to all
as far as possible. You need not have ethical worries if you behave in a beneficent,
no maleficent, protecting autonomy and following consistent moral code

3. Written informed consent:
Provide information to subject/patient about the research work in which
he is going to be involved.
The information should neither be too much or too small so that it becomes
a huge document or a merely 2-3 lines about the intervention. It should
inform enough to understand the risks/benefits and voluntarily nature.
The subject/patient should provide consent voluntary and not under any
pressure.
The consent needs to be written only. There is no place of verbal consent.

4. • The consent is to be taken always in the presence of a witness. The witness must
also sign on consent form. In certain special situations, consent can be provided
by legally acceptable relatives (LARS), e.g., when the subject/patient is suffering
from psychiatric disorders and temporarily unable to understand the consent and
sign it or when subject is not conscious, etc. In case of children, ascent form is
taken from the children and consent from parents if they are under 12 years of
age and study has only minimal risk.
The consent form has to be in the language that the subject understands.
“Individuals be treated as capable of taking decisions for themselves (autonomy).
Those with diminished autonomy be protected”

5. • Informed consent is a process and involves:
Providing all relevant information to the volunteer/patient The
patient/volunteer understanding the information provided
• Voluntarily agreeing to participate
. It should be in written form
• Maintaining confidentiality.