Antenatal and intrapartum consent: Implications of the NSW Consent Manual 2020

Hans Peter Dietz1, Jessica Caudwell Hall1, Natalie Weeg1

  • 1Sydney Medical School Nepean, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

The provision of informed consent for antenatal and intrapartum care remains a contentious issue among healthcare professionals and has been the topic of controversies in the pages of this journal. Recently, the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Health has fundamentally changed the ground rules for the provision of maternity care within the state. In this opinion piece, we try to provide guidance to clinicians to help them deal with the medicolegal environment created by this document which is likely to affect practitioners not just in NSW.

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