title: Informed Consent Challenges in Frail, Delirious, Demented, and Do-Not-Resuscitate Adult Patients.
abstract: Without informed consent, any invasive procedure becomes an assault. The prevailing legal and ethical standard is that the physician has a fiduciary duty to give enough information to the patient so that a reasonable person can make an informed decision to accept or refuse the proposed treatment. The patient's frailty, delirium and/or dementia, and end-of-life concerns and expectations can make informed consent a difficult task. This review examines informed consent requirements for adults and provides communication tools to enable shared decision making while engendering patient-physician trust.
authors.affiliation: Section of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, Department of Radiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157. Electronic address: requarth@wakehealth.edu.
authors.forename: Jay A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Requarth
mesh_terms: D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003693:Delirium; D003704:Dementia; D016330:Frail Elderly; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D016743:Mental Competency / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D016414:Resuscitation Orders / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014481:United States