This chapter discusses ethical and legal aspects of patient consent. It covers the limits to consent (including the context of the unconscious patient and adults lacking capacity); the refusal of treatment by capacitous adults and others; the consequences of proceeding without consent; and the negligence action and the vagaries of information disclosure.
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4. Consent to Treatment
G. T. Laurie, S. H. E. Harmon, and E. S. Dove
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8. Consent to Medical Treatment
A. M. Farrell and E. S. Dove
This chapter explores the nature of consent to medical treatment for adults (primarily those with capacity), as well as its flipside, refusal of medical treatment. We begin by focusing on the function of consent and the consequences for failing to obtain it. We then consider what constitutes informed consent for the purposes of medical treatment, and the nature of information which must be disclosed to a patient to secure this. Finally, we discuss circumstances where medical treatment may proceed even in the absence of consent. As part of this, the chapter traces the history of ‘informed consent’ from the American case of Salgo (1957) through and beyond the foundational UK Supreme Court case of Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board (2015), which sets out legal rules on the disclosure of risks to satisfy the criteria of an informed consent for medical treatment. We discuss how patient autonomy and exercise of choice is now a common theme in relevant case law, and professional guidance increasingly emphasises shared decision making for treatment decisions. Nevertheless, the law still places hurdles in the path of individuals seeking to exercise their autonomy, and vestiges of Bolam (1957) remain, particularly in relation to medical advice concerning the risks associated with treatment.
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31. Drugs: consumption, addiction, and treatment
Toby Seddon
The issue of illicit drugs is one of the most difficult and intractable problems we face today. It spans across the globe and is connected with a range of serious issues, including public health, crime, security, inequalities, and development. This chapter explores three key dimensions of the drug problem, in order to provide a critical account, informed by history and theory. First, the human attraction to intoxicating substances is examined and patterns of consumption are described. Second, understandings of why some people develop problems from habitual consumption are examined, exploring in particular the concept of addiction. Third, it explores the different ways in which societies have attempted to help people experiencing drug-related problems through different methods and modes of drug treatment.
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28. Mental health, mental disabilities, and crime
Jill Peay
What is the nature of the relationship between mental disability and crime? This chapter examines its nature, scope, direction, and implications for the study of criminology. Its early sections critically assess issues of definition, causation and of the success of treatment interventions. Its latter part reviews developments in policy and the emerging blurring of risk-oriented and therapeutic objectives. It concludes by urging a more sophisticated and less discriminatory approach to the field, which does not focus on diagnoses but rather on a holistic understanding of the relationship between people and crime.
Chapter
9. Mental health, mental disabilities, and crime
Ailbhe O’Loughlin and Jill Peay
What is the nature of the relationship between mental disability and crime? This chapter examines its nature, scope, direction, and implications for the study of criminology. Its early sections critically assess issues of definition, causation, and of the success of treatment interventions. Its latter part reviews developments in policy and the emerging blurring of risk-oriented and therapeutic objectives. It concludes by urging a more sophisticated and less discriminatory approach to the field, which does not focus on diagnoses but rather on a holistic understanding of the relationship between people and crime.
