When Time Is Critical, Is Informed Consent Less So? A Discussion of Patient Autonomy in Emergency Neurosurgery.
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Authors
Muskens, Ivo S
Gupta, Saksham
Robertson, Faith C
Moojen, Wouter A
Peul, Wilco C
Broekman, Marike LD
Publication Date
2019-05Journal Title
World Neurosurg
ISSN
1878-8750
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Volume
125
Pages
e336-e340
Language
eng
Type
Article
This Version
AM
Physical Medium
Print-Electronic
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Muskens, I. S., Gupta, S., Robertson, F. C., Moojen, W. A., Kolias, A., Peul, W. C., & Broekman, M. L. (2019). When Time Is Critical, Is Informed Consent Less So? A Discussion of Patient Autonomy in Emergency Neurosurgery.. World Neurosurg, 125 e336-e340. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wneu.2019.01.074
Abstract
Neurosurgical interventions frequently occur in an emergency setting. In this setting, patients often have impaired consciousness and are unable to directly express their values and wishes regarding their treatment. The limited time available for clinical decision making has great ethical implications, as the informed consent procedure may become compromised. The ethical situation may be further challenged by different views between the patient, family members, and the neurosurgeon; the presence of advance directives; the use of an innovative procedure; or if the procedure is part of a research project. This moral opinion piece presents the implications of time constraints and a lack of patient capacity for autonomous decision making in emergency neurosurgical situations. Potential solutions to these challenges are presented that may help to improve ethical patient management in emergency settings. Emergency neurosurgery challenges the respect of autonomy of the patient. The outcome in most scenarios will rely on the neurosurgeon acting in a professional way to manage each unique situation in an ethically sound manner.
Keywords
Humans, Neurosurgical Procedures, Informed Consent, Emergency Medical Services, Time-to-Treatment, Clinical Decision-Making
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wneu.2019.01.074
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/288856
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