An article appears in the Journal of Medical Ethics, vol. 39, pp. 59-61, January 2013, titled “Consent in dentistry: ethical and deontological issues,” written by Adelaide Conti, Paola Delbon, Laura Laffranchi, and Corrado Paganelli. The authors are from Italy and so the focus of the article is a discussion of some of the ethical issues in dentistry. I have previously discussed some ethical issues in medicine and dentistry. See for example, Attending to the Patient in the Informed Consent Process and Are Dentists Ethical or Scam Artists?.
In the article the authors say
“The right of patients to make decisions about their healthcare has been enshrined in legal statements: in Italy the National Constitution establishes that personal liberty is inviolable and that no one may be obliged to undergo any given health treatment except under the provisions of the law…In addition, the Charter of fundamental rights of the European Union and the Council of Europe’s ‘Convention on human rights and biomedicine’ establish the general rule of free and informed consent in the health field.”
The authors touch on how it is possible that some treatment options provided by dentists may be considered a disfigurement in some cultures but a sign of beauty in another culture. Hence, it is possible that some scientifically sound treatment approaches could potentially harm personal values.
The authors further touch on informing a child or incompetent adult and essentially argue that a child should be consulted and the degree of information exchanged should be based on their cognitive abilities.
The authors end the article by saying
“In summary, ‘it is not the written word but the interaction between dentist and patient … the foundation of informed consent’ that ‘should not be looked on as a legal necessity and a duty, but rather as a virtue of good dental practice’ and, according to us, a knowing synthesis of kindness of practitioners to take ‘care’ of understanding of the patient without prejudice, tailoring to adequately inform every unique person.”
Very nice post, Thanks for making us aware of such a nice journal, as a dentist our first priority should be to listen to the decision of our patient and suggest them accordingly, so that they can figure out, what kind of service they really want after all it is their health issue and they have all the right to decide how they want to cure it.