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Informed consent: an Australian case study
1Department of Chiropractic, Osteopathy and Complementary Medicine, Faculty of Biomedical and Health Sciences, RMIT, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia.
Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics
|June 17, 1998
Summary
Australian chiropractors often imply consent rather than obtaining formal informed consent. While patients are informed of procedures, serious risks are seldom discussed, though chiropractors aim to protect at-risk individuals.
Area of Science:
- Health Sciences
- Clinical Practice
- Patient Care
Background:
- Informed consent is a cornerstone of ethical medical practice.
- Understanding how informed consent is practiced in chiropractic care is essential for patient safety and legal compliance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the practice of informed consent in Australian chiropractic settings.
- To analyze the methods chiropractors use to obtain consent from patients for chiropractic procedures.
Main Methods:
- A collective case study design was employed, involving 21 chiropractic practices.
- Data collection included practitioner interviews, patient questionnaires and interviews, and practice observations across 25 chiropractor-patient units.
- Thematic analysis of qualitative data was correlated with quantitative patient data and validated through observation.
Main Results:
- Informed consent for chiropractic care was predominantly implied, with formal verbal or written consent rarely obtained.
- Patients were generally informed about intended procedures, and their acquiescence was accepted as consent.
- Discussion of serious consequences was infrequent, though chiropractors actively identified and managed at-risk patients, often counseling on expected muscle soreness.
Conclusions:
- Chiropractic practice in Australia appears to align with the moral tenets of informed consent.
- However, current practices may not fully meet all legal requirements for informed consent, particularly regarding explicit discussion of risks.