It is more than simply getting a patient to sign a written consent form. The outcome of this communication is the patients authorization or agreement to undergo a specific medical intervention. In this scenario, Dr. Bob should first discuss with Sally and her parents the following, as enumerated in American Medical Association, “in the communications process, you, as the physician providing or performing the treatment and/or procedure (not a delegated representative), should disclose and discuss with your patient the following: (1) the patients diagnosis, if known; (2) the nature and purpose of a proposed treatment or procedure; (3) the risks and benefits of a proposed treatment or procedure; (4) alternatives (regardless of their cost or the extent to which the treatment options are covered by health insurance); (5) the risks and benefits of the alternative treatment or procedure; and (6) the risks and benefits of not receiving or undergoing a treatment or procedure.
In turn, your patient should have an opportunity to ask questions to elicit a better understanding of the treatment or procedure, so that he or she can make an informed decision to proceed or to refuse a particular course of medical intervention.” Paula Patient doesn’t want her violent boyfriend to know she’s getting an abortion, so she asks Dr. Bob to send all communications to her to a post office box and to phone her only at work. What should Dr. Bob do, and what is the legal basis for your advice?
If she tells Dr. Bob that not doing this will endanger her, would your answer be different? The answer to this question needs underlying laws about abortion, to wit: “as it stands today, American women have the legal right to obtain an abortion in all 50 states, through all nine months of pregnancy, for virtually any reason at all. This has been true
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