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If you have your Informed Consent Process card from our Companion Kit, take it out now!

According to the American Medical Association’s “Code of Medical Ethics”, the process of informed consent occurs when:

“Patients have the right to receive information and ask questions about recommended treatments so that they can make well-considered decisions about care. Successful communication in the patient-physician relationship fosters trust and supports shared decision making.”

But, what does that actually look like? Here’s a general path every patient and parent follows to exercise true informed consent.

1. Your medical professional providers information and recommends a medical product.
2. As the patient or parent, you ask questions, research the product, and ask follow-up questions.
3. After the medical professional has answered all initial questions, you make one of the following decisions:
   • Accept the medical product while staying alert to any potential adverse reactions, and continually communicates any changes to the medical professional.
   • Delay accepting the medical product while gathering more observations or diagnostic testing about your condition or researching the product more prior to accepting.
   • Decline the medical product to search for other options either with the current medical professional or a new one.

Accept. Delay. Decline.

Remember, responsibility = authority.

If you are responsible for the outcome of a medical decision, then you also have authority to make that decision. For example, if you are responsible financially for the medical bills associated with a vaccine adverse reaction, then you have the authority to delay or decline that product. If you are responsible for lost wages because you cannot take a future booster after developing a contraindication to that product (such as anaphylaxis), then you have authority to delay or decline that product.

Medical decisions without authority are not decisions, they are coercion. Medical coercion is not informed consent. The ability to delay or decline any or all medical products is required to have informed consent.

Still not sure what exactly informed consent is (or isn’t)? Let’s make it CLEAR for you!