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Consent to Treatment

How can patients or next of kin give consent for treatment?

Most patients in intensive care are too unwell to know what is happening to them, and even if they did know they are often unable to communicate. Because of this, it is impossible for us to obtain the patient's consent should it become necessary to do some kind of operation or procedure.

Under UK law, no-one may give consent on behalf of another adult, not even the next-of-kin.

It is our duty as ICU staff to do what we believe is in the patient's 'best interests', which means that we need to find out as best as we can, given the patient's wishes and religious or other beliefs, what the patient would have wanted us to do. In order to do this properly we always try to discuss any plan for surgery with the patients next-of-kin (except in life-threatening circumstances), so that we can decide what the patient's 'best interests' are.