Withholding, Withdrawing, Not offering treatment: When Do You or Don’t You Need Consent?
Ethical issues are common in health care because the stakes are high and values regularly come into conflict when decisions must be made. Differentiation between minimizing harm, doing no harm, and doing good often needs to be assessed. In the course of provision of these health care services, problems or disagreements will occasionally arise with respect to the moral or “right” thing to do.
The Supreme Court of Canada announced today that Judgment in the Rasouli v. Sunnybrook Hospital appeal will be delivered on FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2013. The decision is about whether physicians have to obtain consent from patients before withdrawing their treatment that the physicians believe to be ineffective or even damaging to the patient—when doing so will result in the patient’s death.
Obtaining informed consent to treatment decisions [as well as decisions about admission to a care facility] is the cornerstone of any ethical health practice—not only for physicians but also for nurses, therapists, dentists and all other regulated health practitioners. But, it takes a detailed knowledge of the relevant legislation that is not thoroughly taught as part of the practitioners’ education or qualification to practice.
These problems can cause “ethical distress” for health care workers, patients, families, and the community. Ethical stress can have a negative impact on patient care by affecting relationships amongst health care workers, patients, families, advocates, chaplains and other stakeholders. And, health practitioner decisions that do not accord to legal requirements also lead to unnecessary litigation.