Question

Why should health care providers provide information about the cost of treatment/ procedure to the patient in the process of informed consent?

Answer 1

The primary aim of the informed consent process is to protect the patient. A consent form is a legal document that guarantees an ongoing contact relationship between the volunteer or patient and health care provider.

There are 4 principles of informed consent:

· The concerned person must have the ability (or capacity) to make a choice.

· Details on the medication, test or procedure in question, including the potential benefits and risks and the likelihood (or probability) that the benefits and risks will occur, must be reported to the medical provider.

· The concerned person must comprehend the relevant information.

· The concerned person must voluntarily grant consent, without coercion or duress.

The health care provider must give (or disclose) the enough information so that they can make an informed decision. It is not necessary or expected that they would receive every detail of the test, treatment, or procedure. They need only the information that would be expected by a reasonable person to make an intelligent decision. The risks and likelihood (or probability) of each of the risks and benefits, and likelihood (or probability) of benefit, should be included in this information.

Any questions expressed or raised should be fully explained, in language and terminology that can be easily understandable.

Considering all these facts , without any hiding or secrecy, all the information must be disclosed which is good legally and ethically .They should be made aware of all the matters concerned with either treatment procedure or cost , because based on that they will decide their further steps. They should not be compelled for any reason. After considering all the facts they should accept voluntarily.