Biomaterial Database

Informed consent and the psychiatric patient. 1987

A R Dyer, and S Bloch

Informed consent is reviewed as it applies to psychiatric patients. Although new legislation, such as the Mental Health Act 1983, provides a useful safeguard for the protection of the civil rights of patients, it could actually reduce their humane care unless applied with sensitivity for the nature of their unique difficulties. In order to guard against this possibility, we suggest that legal requirements should be considered in light of the ethical principles which underlie them. Three principles are considered: those of autonomy (freedom); beneficence (paternalism); and the fiduciary principle (partnership). Psychotherapy is offered as a model for informed consent, which might be generalised to other clinical situations.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007258	Informed Consent	Voluntary authorization, by a patient or research subject, with full comprehension of the risks involved, for diagnostic or investigative procedures, and for medical and surgical treatment.	Consent, Informed
D011613	Psychotherapy	A generic term for the treatment of mental illness or emotional disturbances primarily by verbal or nonverbal communication.	Psychotherapies
D004739	England	A part of Great Britain within the United Kingdom.
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D001523	Mental Disorders	Psychiatric illness or diseases manifested by breakdowns in the adaptational process expressed primarily as abnormalities of thought, feeling, and behavior producing either distress or impairment of function.	Mental Illness,Psychiatric Diseases,Psychiatric Disorders,Psychiatric Illness,Behavior Disorders,Diagnosis, Psychiatric,Mental Disorders, Severe,Psychiatric Diagnosis,Illness, Mental,Mental Disorder,Mental Disorder, Severe,Mental Illnesses,Psychiatric Disease,Psychiatric Disorder,Psychiatric Illnesses,Severe Mental Disorder,Severe Mental Disorders
D018570	Risk Assessment	The qualitative or quantitative estimation of the likelihood of adverse effects that may result from exposure to specified health hazards or from the absence of beneficial influences. (Last, Dictionary of Epidemiology, 1988)	Assessment, Risk,Benefit-Risk Assessment,Risk Analysis,Risk-Benefit Assessment,Health Risk Assessment,Risks and Benefits,Analysis, Risk,Assessment, Benefit-Risk,Assessment, Health Risk,Assessment, Risk-Benefit,Benefit Risk Assessment,Benefit-Risk Assessments,Benefits and Risks,Health Risk Assessments,Risk Analyses,Risk Assessment, Health,Risk Assessments,Risk Benefit Assessment,Risk-Benefit Assessments
D026684	Personal Autonomy	Self-directing freedom and especially moral independence. An ethical principle holds that the autonomy of persons ought to be respected. (Bioethics Thesaurus)	Autonomy, Personal,Free Will,Self Determination
D026686	Beneficence	The state or quality of being kind, charitable, or beneficial. (from American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed). The ethical principle of BENEFICENCE requires producing net benefit over harm. (Bioethics Thesaurus)	Benevolence,Nonmaleficence
D026706	Paternalism	Interference with the FREEDOM or PERSONAL AUTONOMY of another person, with justifications referring to the promotion of the person's good or the prevention of harm to the person. (from Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, 1995); more generally, not allowing a person to make decisions on his or her own behalf.
D028642	Mentally Ill Persons	Persons with psychiatric illnesses or diseases, particularly psychotic and severe mood disorders.	Mental Patients,Mentally Ill,Ill, Mentally,Mentally Ill Person,Person, Mentally Ill,Persons, Mentally Ill