2020 Articles

Don’t Examine without Me – the Role of the Patient in Learning Pelvic Exams

Lee, David

Consent is indispensable to everyday society, enabling proper stewardship of people and resources whether used in general verbal communications or complex functions and transactions.  In healthcare, a patient requesting treatment must provide informed consent, which is defined as “a process of communication whereby a patient is enabled to make an informed and voluntary decision about accepting or declining medical care.”  Informed consent can only be given once a patient fully understands all relevant details pertaining to the medical options at hand, recommendations on interventions, and the potential risks, benefits, and consequences.  In reality some patients hardly think twice about what informed consent fully entails, what it allows, and what might call for detailed extra consent documents.  It could be that they simply trust physicians to provide care and make relevant recommendations.