Informed consent in routine contexts

Informed Consent is typically required only when the procedure involved is either experimental or invasive. Routine medical care does not typically involve informed consent. Utilizing information gathered through audio and video taping physician-patient interactions and a qualitative sociological framework, it will be asserted that there are factors which influence routine treatment and that such influence may conflict with the best interests of patients. A constructive point from which to address this influence is the doctrine of informed consent. A new theory of informed consent is not suggested. Rather, the traditional concept is applied to a broader context.

In arguing for the thesis, sociological data and theory serves as the basis for a description of the context of the delivery of health care in which ethical issues arise. Two claims are made in the ensuing discussion. First, that sociological research and analysis is a legitimate approach to clarifying the- basic ethical and social context. Second, as a result of applying such insights to routine medical care ethical issues in the everyday practice of medicine are displayed. Consequently, the most important claims made in this thesis are that at least one sociological approach is a relevant and effective means of discovering and elucidating the ethically important factors and that routine medical care so described is an important context for ethical deliberation.