Seeking Consent from Clients Prior to Treatment - Essay Example

The doctor is forced to make a wise judgment and proceed with treatment. Also, one may not know the limit of how much information the client should e gave before they make a decision and hence may end up giving too much information.

            Before one can give consent, there are four elements of informed consent that a client needs to have. These are competence, voluntariness, full information, and comprehension. A client must in all instances be able to consent to treatment without hindering factors. These factors include lack of adequate information or the inability to understand the information given since in most instances; it is expressed in some to understand medical jargon.

            In as much as a client could be willing to allow the collection and keeping of information regarding them, there arises the question of confidentiality. Many times, the confidentiality of the right to privileged communication is breached. The fear of clients’ information is shared with third parties is an enormous hindrance to successful medical services as clients may not be willing to give truthful information regarding their conditions. More so, not all countries recognize the right of privileged communication and thus there is no guarantee of confidentiality.

            All medical practitioners are required to warn clients and their close affiliates of any risks of infection, side effects associated with treatments, or any harmful behavior of patients such as violence. This is quite contradictory in regard to confidentiality that should be enjoyed by clients. It may also be quite impossible to warn a dying patient of the harmful side effects of a drug when the best thing to do is save their lives. Some clients may be threatening to commit suicide hence calling for intervention and the need to warn the family members or other authorities in charge of them.

            Clients could have consented to treatment and record-keeping believing that their information will be treated with confidentiality. However, cases may arise that call for access to the client’s medical records/history in order to evaluate their current conditions. It is clear that the issue of confidentiality is quite a sensitive matter and medics and clients need to come to an understanding of how the information should be handled. This boils down to a matter of pure trust which must exist between medics and their clients regardless of whether there are laws governing the relationship or not.

            Finally, if circumstances can allow, a client should always have the right to treatment as well as the right to refuse treatment. Ethical and Legal issues may be hard to maneuver around, but with careful and professionally informed assessment by a medic, this can be worked out.