Informed Consent in Medical Practice. Qualitative Inquiry on Ethical Values

FORMAT | Presented paper

LANGUAGE | English

HOW TO CITE| Frunza, A., & SANDU, Antonio (2017). Informed Consent in Medical Practice. Qualitative Inquiry on Ethical Values. Prezentat în cadrul 4th Central & Eastern European LUMEN International Scientific Conference on Education, Sport & Health | September 29-30, 2017 | Chisinau, Moldova.

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ABSTRACT:

Ever since the beginning of bioethics, one of the mandatory actions in medical practice and medical research was the Informed consent, as key ethical requirement. When IC was first used, it was oriented towards the professional confidentiality and personal privacy. The paternalistic view of the medical practice has been reduced over the years. The professionals are not seen as the experts anymore, in relationship with their patients, as the “proper judges of the patients‟ best interests”, the focus migrating towards on the “patients‟s capacities to make their own decisions” (O‟Neill, 2001). The Informed Consent became the instrument who turns the patient into the expert of its own health state, able to decide for its own life, based on correct information he/she receives. This research aims to identify the significance of the informed consent in the medical staff‟s daily practice. The research does not aim to validate a hypothesis, but it does aim to identify what meaning professionals give to the ethical tools they use. We wish to explore whether or not IC is understood by medical staff as a means of respecting patient‟s autonomy, or if it acts as a protective measure for healthcare staff. In order to identify the meanings attributed to IC by health professionals in healthcare institutions, we developed and conducted individual interviews and analysed the acquired data using a grounded theory (GT) qualitative approach.

KEYWORDS:

informed consent process; ethical instrument; Romanian medical practice; medical ethics; ethical values.