Patients’ Perceptions of the Quality of Informed Consent for Common Medical Procedures

. . . Researchers who have conducted theoretical studies in medical suggest that there are several critical elements in the process of an adequate informed consent. These include that: (1) the-giver must have adequate decision-making capacity, (2) the nature of procedure, its risks, and alternatives must be disclosed, (3) the-giver must understand this information, and (4) the consent-giver must authorize the procedure. We investigated how patients perceived the of the informed-consent process in relation to these critical. We focused our research on procedures that were common but not, somewhat invasive but not overly risky, and performed at the bedside medical house officers: these were thoracentesis, paracentesis, lumbar, and bone marrow aspiration.