Even though I am over 40 – by a long shot – I am familiar
with the abbreviation TMI. We are
inundated with so much noise, chatter and static. I feel that we are bombarded with information
that we must sift through and ultimately delete. The news cycle is 24 hours and hits us from
so many electronic sources simultaneously.
I am deluged each day with so many unwanted and unsolicited e-mails from
organizations that I have never heard of.
One of my favorite words on their e-mails can be found when I scroll to
the end. UNSUBSCRIBE!
Another genre of information assault is the panoply of
warnings and disclaimers that we confront.
Of course, we are all numb to them since we have been so supersaturated. I’ll prove it to you. The next time you are about to take off on an
airplane, the flight attendant will review safety information in the event that
a catastrophe occurs. While one might
think that folks would be attentive to information that might be useful if the
plane loses altitude or is headed for a ‘water landing’; no one is paying any
attention at all. Most of us are
browsing through the Skymall catalogue which showcases amazing gadgets, such as
a device that can dispense feedings to your cat during a week of your
absence. For the cat’s sake, I hope
there won’t be a power failure. Moreover,
the flight attendants who are issuing the briefings seem more bored than the
passengers.
How often do we hear the nonsensical phrase, this product is
not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease? In other words, we admit our product does
nothing, but please buy it to for your ailing bones and prostate glands.
How often do we hit the I Agree icon, which follows pages of
lawyerly small print, just
to get to the next page?
We have been over-warned, over-disclosed and
over-disclaimed.
While rounding at the hospital, I saw the following sign posted
on a coffee machine.
Newsflash! Hot Coffee is Hot!
Look what fear of litigation has done for us. Prior to ligitomania, we might not have
realized that hot coffee is actually hot and might injure of us if we spilled its
steaming contents onto us. Now, we are
all much safer knowing that hot beverages, which we desire to be hot, are hot.
Of course, these protections extend beyond steaming
beverages. If I were in charge, I’d
issue rules and regs that would mandate the following warnings.
- Caution: these steak knives are sharp and not intended to remove feet callouses
- This chain saw is for industrial use by trained lumberjacks. It is not intended as a toy for children under the age of 7.
- This lighter fluid is dangerous and should not be stored in a child’s crib.
The hospital, however, is
not satisfied with my efforts and requires that patients sign lengthy consent
forms, which most patients sign blindly without reading them. For any readers here who have had the pleasure
of having enjoyed hospital life, I’m sure that you can attest how many
different forms you have signed from the moment you arrived at the hospital door
to your discharge. Most patients and
physicians regard these signings to be mere formalities, which are intended to
protect hospitals, and not patients. If patients actually took the time to read through all of these legal CYA forms, it might grind the hospital to halt. There's not enough time for patients to read and understand all this drivel.
Caution readers! This
blog is not intended to inform, enlighten, provoke, challenge or amuse
readers. Readers accept all responsibility
for any resultant angst or mental torment and hold blogger harmless for any and
all perceived damages until the end of time. Click I AGREE.
There is also confusion regarding what constitutes actual consent. Specifically, we confound the signing of the informed consent document with the acts of informing and consenting. In my particular state which has very loose requirements for obtaining written consent, much of what we do can be done under verbal informed consent. However, there is a tendency to assume that if no written consent is required, no consent is required whatsoever. On the flip side, there is also a perception that if something is signed, then informed consent has been accomplished, even if no informing has been undertaken, whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteThe written documents often get in the way of any real informed consent because they are created by those who have no idea of what the actual risks and benefits are of any specific intervention. We are forced to get written informed consent for trivial interventions using boilerplate documents which include risks such as death or paralysis where the riskiest part of the intervention is getting patients on the exam table. The documents bear little or resemblance to actual informed consent tools and are in reality signed releases.
@MC, I completely agree with your comments. The signing of consent documents has become falsely elevated to true informed consent - a spurious notion for sure. Conversely, as you point out, true consent can be obtained without any signatures. It's become a farce, in my view. Thanks for taking the time to offer your insights.
ReplyDelete