The extent of surgical patients' understanding.
The notion that consent to surgery must be informed implies not only that information should be provided by the surgeon but also that the information should be understood by the patient in order to give a foundation to his or her decision to accept or refuse treatment and thus, achieve autonomy for the patient. Nonetheless, this seems to be an idyllic situation, since most patients do not fully understand the facts offered and thus the process of surgical informed consent, as well as the patient's autonomy, may be jeopardized. Informed consent does not always mean rational consent.
Department of General and Digestive Surgery, Hospital del Salvador, University of Chile School of Medicine, Santiago, Chile.
Omar Talhouk
OT
Pugliese
Juan Lombardi
JL
Solari
Alberto R
AR
Ferreres
D003144:Communication Barriers; D032882:Comprehension; D013502:General Surgery / Q000941:ethics*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D057220:Health Literacy / Q000941:ethics*; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent / Q000941:ethics* / Q000523:psychology; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000941:ethics*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations / Q000941:ethics*; D066231:Surgeons / Q000941:ethics