Of course, your surgeon can voluntarily provide much of this information. However, if you still have questions, feel free to ask them. Remember that the surgery will be performed on you, and you should get all the information you need to improve your understanding. Your doctor should be prepared to take the time necessary to ensure that you are fully informed. No doctor can or should guarantee results, as each surgery is different, depending on each patient`s individual condition and response. Nevertheless, your surgeon will be able to give you a good idea of what to expect. This may seem like a formality, but in reality, this process must be taken very seriously. Before your surgery, talk openly with your surgeon about any questions or concerns you have. Of course, not everyone wants to know all the specific details of the surgery themselves, but you should look for the answers to questions such as: These are all cases where consent may be legally suspect, as consent may not have been entirely voluntary. In these situations, where the physician should have recognized these factors as a barrier to consent; The physician could be held liable for negligence. The decision to undergo surgery is very important. You must be fully informed and prepared for the operation. You should also be prepared to meet any special needs you may have after surgery.

How you prepare affects the outcome and results. Below is a checklist to help you prepare for surgery. In court, disputes often arise over the information that has been provided. It may not be enough to say, «I usually give these potential complications for this procedure.» Standard practice will not apply if the court believes the patient more than the physician. Therefore, clear documentation of the risks and benefits explained is the physician`s best defence.11 As a result, specific informed consent forms have been developed that list specific information for certain procedures.19 While standardized, informed consent must always include an oral statement of what is written on the form. The goal is to inform the patient well enough so that he can make a balanced decision. Too little information does not inform, while too much information can be counterproductive and can only lead to confusion. In practice, listing potential surgical complications may be meaningless to many patients unless they are easily described in a way that is easy for a layman to understand (e.g., infection instead of endophthalmitis). It may be more helpful to explain how these complications may affect the patient in the future (for example, permanently worse vision or even blind eye).

ACS members were interviewed in 2006 and 2009. In both cases, 97% of ACS members surveyed requested assistance in developing consent models specific to the process. For consent to be valid, the patient must (1) be able to make the appropriate decision; (2) have received sufficient information to enable it to take a decision; and (3) do not act under duress.2,3 Informed consent is a legal and ethical requirement under which physicians and patients exchange information about a patient`s condition and available treatment options. The process results in the patient`s decision on a particular treatment or procedure. There are many guidelines for informed consent, including: An important point to remember is the physician`s responsibility to inform a patient of a «significant risk that would affect the judgment of a reasonable patient» (i.e., cause the patient to refuse surgery). This is based on previous appeal judgments8 and is part of the Ministry of Health`s guidelines.3 This does not mean that the physician is responsible whenever a complication occurs that he or she did not mention: it only applies to complications that may cause a reasonable patient to refuse surgery if known. In practice, this includes serious or frequent risks that, from the patient`s point of view, may tip the benefit-risk balance in favour of a negative operation. Since all patients are different, it is the duty of the physician to highlight dangerous patients and give them more time to discuss to make an appropriate decision.

Surgical consent is defined as your doctor`s permission to perform surgery and does not always have to be in writing. Without this consent to the transaction, it is considered a criminal offence. Informed consent goes further than general consent, as it also involves being fully informed of all possible consequences that may arise during the procedure. A doctor needs both types of consent to perform surgery. Informed consent remains valid indefinitely, so prior consent can be obtained provided that the patient`s condition has not changed and/or no new information about the proposed intervention or alternative treatments has been revealed in the meantime.3 It is good practice to obtain prior consent: confirm consent at the time of surgery. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario`s Policy on Treatment Consent2, based on the Health Care Consent Act of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario,3 was updated in 2015 to outline the requirements for informed consent. Similar legislation and regulatory policies exist in all provinces and territories in Canada. Another challenge may be a language barrier when a friend or family member translates the surgeon`s explanations into short sentences, giving the patient a fraction of the information provided.