Consent to eventual treatment in the intensive care unit expressed within the consent form for elective anaesthesia...

In contemporary clinical practice, the issue of requesting patient consent to perform therapeutic treatment plays an important role. The conscious consent of a patient as an expression of one's will greatly strengthens the legality of medical procedures performed by a physician, regardless of the medical field. However, obtaining consent to treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU) often poses enormous difficulties in daily clinical work, and has in recent decades been the cause of much dispute between doctors and lawyers. The correct interpretation of the provisions under the relevant laws determines the safety and comfort of the medical practice in the ICU. This study compared the current rules of normative acts of Polish common law relating to medical practice in intensive care units and issued on the basis of the judgments of the common court of law over the past ten years. On the basis of those provisions, the authors conclude that the patient should be informed by the anaesthesiologist during the visit as to the possibility of postoperative therapy in the ICU. The extent of such information depends on the likelihood of having treatment in the ICU. The consent of the patient for hospitalisation in the ICU should be mandatory in the case of treatments which are very likely to necessitate such hospitalisation. This concerns especially cardiac surgery, neurosurgery and treatments for patients with a significant burden of disease. The authors of this study propose that an information and consent form to undergo treatment in the intensive care unit should be included within the anaesthesia consent form.