Aigli Dafni‡, Panagoula Oikonomou‡, Konstantinos Anagnostopoulos‡, Christos Tsalikidis‡, Nigyar Dzhafer§, Alexandra K. Tsaroucha‡, Michail Pitiakoudis|Corresponding author: Aigli Dafni ( lawdafni@gmail.com ) Corresponding author: Alexandra K. Tsaroucha ( atsarouc@med.duth.gr ) © Aigli Dafni, Panagoula Oikonomou, Konstantinos Anagnostopoulos, Christos Tsalikidis, Nigyar Dzhafer, Alexandra K. Tsaroucha, Michail Pitiakoudis. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Citation:
Dafni A, Oikonomou P, Anagnostopoulos K, Tsalikidis C, Dzhafer N, Tsaroucha AK, Pitiakoudis M (2021) Are patients willing to be informed on the risks and complications associated with the proposed therapy? A survey on informed consent. Folia Medica 63(4): 569-575. https://doi.org/10.3897/folmed.63.e56239 |  |
Introduction: Informed consent is essential to the patient-physician relationship. The paternalistic old-time approach used by physicians to achieve the optimal management is changing today; detailed medical information must be disclosed to the patients regarding their health problem.
Aim: The aim of this study was to highlight the value of informed consent in the context of medical practice as well as to emphasize its importance through the prism of human rights.
Materials and methods: A patient survey was conducted in two public and one private hospitals in Greece. Eighty-three inpatients from the Surgical Departments of Democritus University Hospital of Alexandroupolis (DUHA), Laikon University Hospital of Athens (LUHA) and a private hospital were included in the study. A questionnaire regarding patients’ attitude towards informed consent was distributed to patients prior to surgery.
Results: The majority of the patients (63.86% in DUHA, 59.38% in LUHA, and 78.95% in the private hospital) opted for full disclosure regarding the course and development of their condition.
Conclusion: Patients want to be informed about their treatment options and possible complications so that they can make decisions about their treatment after a comprehensive and understandable discussion.