Patients' should be able to say no

BMJ 1995;310:935 (8 April)

Letters

Patients' should be able to say no

EDITOR,--John N Lunn comments, "Consent for anaesthesia is differentfrom consent for surgical or medical treatment because cooperativeeffort is not required. In order to be anaesthetised patientshave to do very little."¹ It is precisely because anaesthetisedpatients are helpless and unable to defend their personal boundariesthat it is important to obtain their consent for all procedureswhile they are conscious.

In my research on post-traumatic stress disorder in women whohave undergone obstetric or gynaecological procedures one ofthe features that differentiated traumatised from non-traumatisedwomen was their having undergone medical procedures withoutfeeling that they had given informed consent.² One woman washorrified to find out that, while under anaesthesia, she hadbeen examined vaginally by several medical students withouther consent. Years later she still felt violated by the experience.More than one woman had consented to a hysterectomy, only towake to find that . . . [Full text of this article]