Comment on "Training Surgeons and the Informed Consent Process: Routine Disclosure of Trainee Participation and Its Effect on Patient Willingness and Consent Rates"

Abstract: Training Surgeons and the Informed Consent Process: Routine Disclosure of Trainee Participation and Its Effect on Patient Willingness and Consent Rates

Patients  
Three hundred sixteen individuals scheduled for elective surgery.

Conclusions
Most patients expressed approval of teaching facilities and resident education. However, consent rates were significantly altered when more detailed information was provided and they declined with increasing levels of resident participation. Providing detailed informed consent is preferred by patients but it could adversely affect resident participation and training.

Perspectives: Sleep Deprivation, Elective Surgical Procedures, and Informed Consent — NEJM (including commentaries)

The culture of faith and hope. Patients' justifications for their high estimations of expected therapeutic benefit when enrolling in early phase oncology trials (abstract)

BACKGROUND:
Patients' estimates of their chances of therapeutic benefit from participation in early phase trials greatly exceed historical data. Ethicists worry that this therapeutic misestimation undermines the validity of informed consent.

CONCLUSIONS:
Expressions of high expected therapeutic benefit had little to do with reporting knowledge and more to do with expressing optimism. These results have implications for understanding how to obtain valid consent from participants in early phase clinical trials.

amednews: Informed consent: Hospitals explore personalizing risks :: May 17, 2010 ... American Medical News

"It is well-known from the medical literature that informed consent is neither informed nor consensual," said John Spertus, MD, MPH"