Informed consent for presbyopic contact lens patients.

The doctrine of informed consent requires that health care practitioners provide each patient with sufficient information about a proposed treatment so that the patient can make a knowing, willing and intelligent decision about the recommended treatment. The need for a thorough, well documented informed consent is especially important when prescribing monovision or bifocal contact lenses for presbyopic patients because of the relatively low success rate and possible associated vision compromise. Patients should be advised of the alternatives available and provided with a supplemental or alternative correction which will optimize the patient's vision for driving and other potentially hazardous activities. An example of an informed consent document that could be used to record the warnings and advice given to presbyopic contact lens patients is included. Failure to obtain the patient's informed consent and properly document it can be a major source of liability in contact lens practice. Use of informed consent documents such as the one described in this paper can minimize this possibility.