The Legal Doctrine of Informed Consent and Renal Dialysis - Do Patients Really Consent?

A doctor has a legal duty to secure the informed consent of a patient prior to performing a medical or surgical procedure. The elements of the legal doctrine of informed consent include capacity, voluntariness and the provision and understanding of relevant information. This article examines the doctrine in the context of renal dialysis. Dialysis is a complex therapy that impacts upon quality of life and has limited survival advantage in some patients. It is likely that informed consent is often not fully integrated into the care of patients commencing dialysis. The article analyses the common law doctrine of informed consent as it relates to dialysis and presents the findings of a retrospective study of the adequacy of the consent process based on interviews with dialysis patients who commenced dialysis in the previous 12 months. It concludes with recommendations for improvement in practice.