Law And Ethics Applied To Nursing Practice

1 Programme: BSc Adult Nursing Module title: Law and Ethics applied to Nursing Practice Assignment title: Basic Principles of consent Word count: 20572 Basic principles of consent Consent is the voluntary and ongoing permission of the patient to obtain a specific treatment based on a sufficient knowledge of the purpose, nature and the probable risks of the treatment including the probability of its success and any alternatives to it; thus, permission given under any unfair or undue influence, or under duress is not consent (Department of Health, 2009). Consent can be expressed, written or implied (De Cruz, 2005). The basic principles of consent are: the individual must be competent to give consent, must be adequately informed about the nature of the procedure, must be acting voluntarily, must not be under duress or undue pressure and must have the ability to communicate a decision (McHale and Tingle, 2001). A valid consent is one that is given or obtained freely and voluntarily without any pressure or undue influence (RCN, 2017). In the United Kingdom, a real consent is regarded valid in contrast to the United States of America where it is referred to as informed (De Cruz, 2002). There is no principle