Consent in medical practice ? Perceptions of patients towards legal aspects of informed consent

Background: Informed consent is way of providing necessary information to the patients and helping them for decision making. All the pros and cons of procedure must be explained to the patients in the language he or she can understand. Just taking signature of patient on consent form without proper explanation and understanding of him is violating entire process of informed consent. Materials and methods: A cross sectional, observational study was conducted over 121 patients aged 18 years and above who came to Gayatri Hospital, Gandhinagar after obtaining their informed written consent for participation in survey regarding informed consent. All participants were subjected to pretested and validated questionnaire (Likert type scale) regarding legal aspects of informed consent. Results: Out of 121 participants, only 100 participants’ responses were included for analysis. Among 100 participants 73 were male and 27 were female. 78% agreed that informed consent is must for any procedure. 61% agreed that signing consent form is just a formality. 91% believed that informed consent is protective shield for doctors. 88% believed that informed consent is legally necessary. Only 52% agree that consent form is meant to protect patients’ rights. 77% felt that signing consent form eliminate patients’ right to compensation. 82% wanted to know everything but letting decision left on doctor. Conclusion: The study concluded that there is a vide gap between actual concept of informed consent and perceptions of patients for the same. Patient awareness programs must be conducted by appropriate authority with help of media and television to improve their knowledge and preserve their rights.