What is informed consent?

Informed consent is fundamentally a process that involves obtaining permission from a patient after ensuring they fully understand the implications of a medical procedure or treatment. This process includes providing patients with adequate information about their condition, the nature and purpose of proposed interventions, potential risks and benefits, and alternatives to the proposed treatment. The essence of informed consent lies in respecting the autonomy of patients and their right to make decisions about their own health care based on complete and truthful information.

While other options relate to important ethical principles in healthcare, such as non-maleficence (the duty to do no harm) and acknowledging a patient's inherent worth, they do not specifically define informed consent. The right of patients to make informed decisions reflects an important aspect of personal autonomy but does not capture the comprehensive and interactive process that informed consent encompasses. Thus, the correct understanding of informed consent is best encapsulated as the process of obtaining explicit permission from a patient, grounded in their informed comprehension of what they are consenting to.