----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Adams"
Subject: Re: relatives, resus and consent
> I am not sure about the argument about breach of confidentiality in the
> resus situation for the following reasons...
> Do you wait to get consent from patient to discuss injuries or prognosis
> with relatives? Clearly in the abscence of knowledge of an Advanced
> Directive, consent to next of kin is taken as implied in most cases. So,
> why is a resus situation different?
I'm a little confused, Tony, about whether you're referring to the patient
consenting to allow his relatives to be privy to his condition, or you're
referring to consent to allow medical or surgical management of the patient.
But as Alan has pointed out, next of kin cannot lawfully give consent for an
adult, even if that adult has the "mental age" of a child.
But perhaps this confusion illustrates why I'm guided by the ethical issues,
rather than the legal issues, in such situations, i.e. I'm concerned for the
patient's privacy and dignity. So while I might object to relatives directly
observing resuscitation, I don't have a problem about keeping them informed
about the patient's progress - within reason - even though this is
technically a breach of confidentiality.
Adrian Fogarty
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