Surgical Consent in the Pediatric Age Group: Parental Perceptions Toward Legal Aspects of Informed Consent

The perceptions of parents/legal guardians may drive their decisions on providing informed consent for minors. Currently, no study from Saudi Arabia has assessed the perceptions of parents/legal guardians toward informed consent for pediatric surgical procedures.

To determine parents' perception and understanding of pediatric informed consent for surgeries from Saudi Arabia and determining their level of participation in the decision-making process of the treatment modality.

This observational cross-sectional study was conducted among parents from the Jazan region of Saudi Arabia with at least one child aged ≤ 12 years. Three aspects of surgical informed consent were evaluated: parents' awareness, attitude, and understanding of informed consent and its legal issues; the knowledge they sought during informed consent discussions; and parents' opinions about their respective roles in the decision-making process for the treatment.

A total of 366 responses were included in this study. More than 95% of the participants agreed that informed consent was necessary; however, 94.7% felt that regardless of their beliefs, they had to sign the form. Surprisingly, the majority (61%) believed that any relative can sign the consent form on behalf of the parents/legal guardian. Most respondents believe that pre-operative procedures (80.8%), the cost (93.9%), and the reason for the procedure and its alternatives (87.2%) should be discussed when informed consent is being sought. About 76.5% of the participants wanted to know all the information regarding the procedure; of these, 48.3% responded that they would play a role in deciding the eventual treatment modality.

The findings of this study indicate the need to increase knowledge regarding surgical informed consent among parents in the Jazan region of Saudi Arabia.