Request for Treatment: the evolution of consent.

Area of Science:

• Medical Law
• Patient Consent
• Healthcare Ethics

Background:

• Current consent practices have documented flaws.
• A literature review highlighted deficiencies in existing consent procedures.
• Existing models may not fully support patient understanding or provide adequate legal recourse.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and evaluate the Request for Treatment (RFT) model.
• To establish a comprehensive framework for patient consent.
• To enhance patient-centred care and legal documentation in medical consent.

Main Methods:

• A critical analysis and literature review of global consent practices.
• Development of a novel documentary system: Request for Treatment forms (RFTFs), also known as Patient-centred Consent Forms (PCCFs).
• Presentation of arguments for the legal validity and benefits of RFT, supported by a case study.

Main Results:

• RFT provides a patient-centred approach to consent.
• It offers robust, patient-authored documentary evidence of consent and capacity.
• The RFT model demonstrates ease of implementation in clinical settings, particularly for elective surgery.

Conclusions:

• Request for Treatment (RFT) is a novel, patient-centred consent model.
• It offers significant advantages, including strong documentary evidence, capacity assessment, and legal robustness.
• RFT facilitates better patient understanding, protects against negligence, and simplifies consent processes.