{"title":"Young teenagers providing their own surgical consents: an ethical-legal dilemma for perioperative registered nurses.","authors":"Kelly M Kuz","doi":"","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>During the delivery of health care, ethical-legal problems are not uncommon and can be defined as situations that have potential legal consequences when equally compelling ethical reasons for and against a particular course of action are recognized and a decision must be made. Ethical-legal repercussions may occur when obtaining surgical consent from a younger teenager (defined as dependant and/or under 18 years of age). An ethical-legal dilemma arising from the case of a 14-year-old, run away girl, who had signed her own surgical consent for a cholecystectomy is analyzed. The concept of consent is discussed and related to an actual case study. The elements of a valid informed consent are identified, discussed and related to the case study. Using the MORAL model for ethical decision-making the ethical implications of this case are analysed. Possible legal repercussions are addressed and a risk management strategy (suggested policy and documentation protocols for the consent process) is proposed and evaluated.</p>","PeriodicalId":77061,"journal":{"name":"Canadian operating room nursing journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2006-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Canadian operating room nursing journal","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
During the delivery of health care, ethical-legal problems are not uncommon and can be defined as situations that have potential legal consequences when equally compelling ethical reasons for and against a particular course of action are recognized and a decision must be made. Ethical-legal repercussions may occur when obtaining surgical consent from a younger teenager (defined as dependant and/or under 18 years of age). An ethical-legal dilemma arising from the case of a 14-year-old, run away girl, who had signed her own surgical consent for a cholecystectomy is analyzed. The concept of consent is discussed and related to an actual case study. The elements of a valid informed consent are identified, discussed and related to the case study. Using the MORAL model for ethical decision-making the ethical implications of this case are analysed. Possible legal repercussions are addressed and a risk management strategy (suggested policy and documentation protocols for the consent process) is proposed and evaluated.