This introduces students to the legal, ethical, and practical issues related to physicians' duty to secure patient consent to medical treatment, addressing (1) historical injustices, (2) common law doctrine, (3) current controversies implicating constitutional law, and (4) practical challenges of implementing informed consent for diverse patient populations.
Outcomes: Describe the historical injustices and unethical medical practices that led to the development of informed consent law in the US; Identify the elements of a cause of action for breach of informed consent and critically evaluate whether these elements adequately protect patients' rights; Demonstrate the interplay between the common law of informed consent and constitutional principles of equal protection, substantive due process, and free speech; Reflect on complex challenges relating to informed consent and patient rights in the context of end-of-life, reproductive, sexual, and mental health care; Propose changes to the law and practice of informed consent that would more effectively meet the needs of vulnerable patients, particularly patients with low health literacy.
Outcomes: Describe the historical injustices and unethical medical practices that led to the development of informed consent law in the US; Identify the elements of a cause of action for breach of informed consent and critically evaluate whether these elements adequately protect patients' rights; Demonstrate the interplay between the common law of informed consent and constitutional principles of equal protection, substantive due process, and free speech; Reflect on complex challenges relating to informed consent and patient rights in the context of end-of-life, reproductive, sexual, and mental health care; Propose changes to the law and practice of informed consent that would more effectively meet the needs of vulnerable patients, particularly patients with low health literacy.