Informed consent is one of the main psychological tools available to professionals to ensure their ethics and morals, and consent can even be considered as a two-way dialogue process between the patient and the health specialist, without physical documents, clauses or contracts. dialogue or document, the potential benefits and benefits of psychological treatment or study are exposed.
Its formal definition ensures that consent was granted freely and voluntarily by the research subject or patient for everything related to the field of health, and that after receiving all the appropriate and necessary information, he evaluated the options for the situation and chose it.
- You may have heard of Josef Mangele.
- Also known as Dr.
- Mangele or Angel of Death.
- Was a German physician and made history of his sadistic characteristics and terrible cruelty.
- A supporter of Nazism.
- He conducted experiments throughout the regime using human beings.
- Especially in newborn twins.
- Used procedures that could cause pain.
- Irreversible physical and psychological harm and even death in some cases.
The history of informed consent dates back to the end of World War II and then to the second half of the 20th century; More specifically, their origin comes from the judges of the city of Nuremberg, the procedures in the city’s judicial system imposed sanctions on a large number of Hitler officials, officials and employees, convicting them of war crimes.
Thus, from 1947, consent became a fundamental pillar of scientific research in humans. In this context, American physicians Leo Alexander and Andrew Comvay Ivy have developed a manual containing a series of ethical guidelines entitled “Authorized Medical Experiences”. it would be called the Nuremberg Code and its main point was concern about voluntary consent.
The obligations of the psychology professional are the rights of the user and at the same time the duties of the user are the rights of the psychologist, so it is the responsibility of the professional to inform the patient in a clear, rigorous and complete way. truthful of the content of the study, intervention, treatment or psychological research in which it will participate. But what should be noted then?
Informed consent is the formal medical and psychological procedure that aims to respect the principle of autonomy of the patient and, therefore, also their dignity. It refers to the obligation to respect each person as a person and his preferences regarding the medical care he receives, given the content of the document, the requirements for giving informed consent are those listed below:
The information contained in the document must be delivered orally and in writing, the objective is that the person receiving the communication feels fully informed, it is clear that after all this the person must approve the process. the process ends with the signing of the informed consent form, which confirms the understanding of everything communicated.
As we have seen, the informed consent procedure is fundamental in psychological practice, and the non-use of this communication mechanism may be grounds for professional sanction for psychological negligence.