Considering informed consent

After watching the Michael Skolnik story here at Telluride, the residents and faculty broke into small groups to consider the issues involved in getting proper informed consent from patients who are about to undergo procedures.  Faculty member Kim Oates later reminded the residents, "The consent form doesn't replace the conversation. And the conversation is not a conversation unless it is a two-way conversation."

Although the focus was on the humanitarian reasons for engaging in proper consent procedures, faculty leader Dave Mayer also pointed out that informed consent breakdowns are a top reason for losing malpractice cases. He also reminded the residents of the value of encouraging people to seek second opinions, not only for the patients themselves, but also for the doctors: "We’re all biased towards doing the procedures we’re trained to do. If you think you’re not, you’re fooling yourself."

Here's a composite of pictures of the members of one of the breakout groups .

Barbara Rubino

Sam Kallus

Julia Meade

Jo Suh with Kim Oates

Nick Clark with faculty member Carole Hemmelgarn