Tag Archives: Informed consent

Doubled edged shield

December 30, 2020

Adil Menon  Cleveland, Ohio, United States   Jeryl Lynn Hilleman with her sister, Kirsten, in 1966 as a doctor gave her the mumps vaccine developed by their father. Unknown Photographer, distributed by Merck Sharp & Dohme. ca 1966. Credit: Smithsonian National Museum of American History  Working my way through a biography of pioneering vaccine developer […]

Medicine and trust, behind bars

April 29, 2019

Gail Burke New Orleans, Louisiana, United States   The Little Prisoner. Goya, Francisco c. 1810–1812. Etching and Engraving on Woven Paper. Published in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Vol. XXII. Public Domain: Artstor through Michigan State University Library. Goya enjoyed great prestige as portrait painter of the Spanish elite. However, in his private work his focus was […]

Informed consent

September 27, 2018

Charles H. Halsted Davis, California, USA   Autopsy at the Hôtel-Dieu (1876) by Henri Gervex Outlined by the glimmer of eastern sun, the head nurse says: “One of your patients passed around four. His body has been sent to the hospital morgue.” You are the intern, first up on the ward to see all the patients […]

Informed choice versus informed consent

January 30, 2017

George L. Spaeth Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA   Before initiating an action that may harm a patient, it is customary to obtain informed consent, with the generally accepted purpose of respecting the patient’s autonomy and protecting the person initiating the action: “Obtaining patients’ consent . . . demonstrates respect for patient autonomy and should help prevent […]