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Competence to give informed consent for medical procedures
The Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
|January 1, 1984
Summary
Patients with schizophrenia or depression were competent to give informed consent for medical treatment, unlike those with organic brain syndromes. Further research is needed, especially for psychotic patients.
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry
- Medical Ethics
- Informed Consent
Background:
- Informed consent is crucial for medical treatment, but competence varies among patient populations.
- Referrals for competence evaluation often involve patients refusing medical care.
Observation:
- A study examined patients referred for competence to give informed consent.
- Patients with organic brain syndromes were found incompetent.
- Patients with schizophrenia or depression were deemed competent for medical consent.
Findings:
- Competence to consent to medical treatment may be higher in patients with schizophrenia and depression than previously thought.
- Patients with mental illness can understand medical necessity despite delusions or psychosis.
- Physicians may delay treatment for psychotic patients until psychosis is controlled.
Implications:
- This challenges assumptions about the competence of patients with mental illness to consent to medical treatment.
- Further research is essential to clarify competence standards for informed consent in psychiatric and medical patients.
- Special attention is needed for evaluating competence in psychotic patients.