Problems of Long-term Informed Consent

Abstract

This study addresses problems arising with informed consent for long-term maintenance pharmacotherapy. Obtaining patient consent to neuroleptic treatment, with the risk of tardive dyskinesia, has raised questions about long-term recall and the competence of psychiatric patients as a special population.

The subjects were 32 adult outpatients, 16 were followed in the psychiatric clinic and 16 in the rheumatology, pulmonary, and neurology clinics. Structured interviews with these patients dealt with knowledge about relevant short-term and long-term medication side effects. Interview results were used to compare psychiatric and medical groups with respect to overall levels of comprehensions Two results were striking.

1. There was a remarkable similarity in the degree of comprehension between psychiatric and medical outpatient groups; this suggests that psychiatric patients need not be considered any less competent than medical outpatients in assimilating necessary medication information.

2. Patients in both groups were knowledgeable about short-term side effects, usually as a consequence of personal experience with them. However, their knowledge was consistently inadequate with regard to potential long-term side effects from their maintenance medication.

Current informed consent doctrine may presume a degree of recall and comprehension beyond the capabillties of most patients. The development of an appropriate doctor-patient relationship that reconciles the need for consent with patient limitations remains an important challenge for clinicians.