When patients are prepped and ready to start a procedure, a medical professional presents a consent form to sign. That setting does not serve the purpose of informed consent. An experience long ago led to a tip to ensure you make truly informed consent before proceeding.
The day before starting investigational treatment for my second cancer recurrence, I experienced a bizarre disequilibrium as the research nurse started going over the consent form aloud. With my survival instincts in full gear and a pen in my hand, I tuned out her recitation of the risks.
Realizing I’d missed what she’d just said, I froze. The stakes were huge. I could never go back and undo what had been done once the therapy was infused. Pinching myself, I impelled silently, “Pay attention, Wendy.”
Lord knows I tried. My eyes followed the tip of the nurse’s finger like a ball bouncing over words to a sing-along. But everything continued to look and sound like gibberish. I could not focus on all that could go wrong, even for a few moments. Doing so would have made it far more difficult to psych myself up for the imminent treatment.
Clearly, the act of signing a consent form was not helping inform me nor helping me make a wise decision. All it was doing was protecting the healthcare team by legalizing the many meaningful conversations that had led up to my commitment to the trial.
And that was okay because those earlier conversations ensured that I was informed.
My tip: Ask to see consent documents before the day of the intervention. This way, you can review them at your leisure and address any concerns that may arise. When presented with the form right before the intervention, you can relax, knowing you already read it closely and already decided to give consent. You can confidently sign the form while staying in an optimistic and hopeful frame of mind.
Click here for a patient handout that helps through the Informed Consent process in helpful, hopeful ways. Oncology Times (lww.com)
