In both IVF and Egg donation process, singing of informed consent is the primary work required to start before the commencement of the medical process. But it is necessary to mention that inform consenting is tedious work. Inform consent is a branch of pages that address the detailed medical process, legal requirements, and other information. Healthcare provider gives these forms to the women who seek IVF treatment or willing to donate their eggs.
These forms represent one method by which your physician obtains your informed consent to proceed with treatment. Some of the pages in the form are given a detailed description of the medical procedure through which one needs to undergo during her treatment period. And some forms require signatures of the candidate to confirm that she understands the procedure and agree with the terms and conditions mentioned in the forms.
In some practices, the treating doctor or assistant nursing staff, or treatment coordinator sits together with the patient or egg donor candidate to review the forms. Whereas, in some cases, the forms are given to the patients or candidates to review them carefully to make the decision. Therefore, the following are the major paper works involved in the IVF treatment and egg donation procedure.
Informed Consent
The legal policy of informed consent is considered to protect the sovereignty and self-determination of every involved party. Each state identifies the importance of the patient’s right and for that it is important to know what will happen with his or her body during treatment. Based on this information, he or she can determine whether he or she accept or reject the proposed medical procedure. All most every Government of each country legally accepts the informed consent procedure for medical treatments including IVF treatment and egg donation process.
Legally treatment doctor is liable in case of any discrepancy found in the informed consenting.
Information Disclosed
Some of the information must be verbally disclosed before starting any treatment procedure. The information disclosure to satisfy the requirement varies from state to state but fall into one of two categories. In half of the cases, the adequacy of the disclosures is determined by what trend is followed by the other doctors during the same treatment process. Whereas, another half based on how much information is a necessity to disclose for reasonable and intelligent decision by the patient. Therefore, in this aspect physician decision about the disclosure of information plays an important role.
But a stringent rule is followed under standard legal prospects during written informed consenting. Apart from physician decisions, professional societies also interfere with what information to disclose to the patient. The decision of professional societies is influenced by many legal aspects so that patient dignity should not be harmed in any way.
The objective of informed consenting is to explain the procedure in detail along with its benefits, risks, and alternatives to the proposed treatment. The information disclosure includes prescribing medications, procedures, and possible treatment outcomes to the patient or donor. Beyond the medical matter, legal consequences are also discussed and documented properly. For example, a form covering in vitro fertilization using donor eggs may include statements regarding the intentions of the parties as to who will be considered a parent under the law.
If the patient wants to cryopreserve the donated egg or formed embryo, then additional forms may need to fill up to follow the procedure. In some cases, legal interventions may require to consider the parental rights in disputes over children born through assisted reproduction and to decide disputes over embryos in cases of divorce or death.
Following are the different tips followed during navigating the forms
The primary objective of informed consenting is to uphold the patient’s protection. In the case of fertility treatment, written inform consenting is an integral part of the process. But in a broader aspect, written inform consenting is also protecting the physician from potential liability. Following are the concern both patient and medical professionals should follow during inform consenting:
- All participants should read the whole consent form thoroughly and carefully, as consenting has long-lasting legal consequences.
- Do not blindly sign the forms if do not describe the intention of the patient to pursue the procedure.
- In case of difficulty to understand any mentioned point in the informed consent, then seek counseling for advice. This additional counseling may payable, but it is worthy to pay the extra to avoid any legal dispute in the future.
- Pay close attention to assign responsibility if any.
- In case of any doubt, discuss in detail with the treating doctor, as the written forms should be a supplement, but not a substitute.
References
https://www.iflg.net/informed-consent-documents-at-the-ivf-clinic/