The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, Anand Grover, cites the example of informed consent:
Informed consent is not simply receiving health care, but rather a voluntary and informed decision that protects the patient’s right to participate in the health care process, assigning certain responsibilities to health care providers. This definition points to the patient’s autonomy, self-reliance, integrity, and well-being. The right to informed consent is inherent in the set of rights to health care. The issues to focus on are competence, awareness, voluntariness, and the circumstances in which consent to a medical intervention is not required.
The complexity of informed consent is reflected in the lack of patient understanding of the meaning and importance of the concept itself. A sociological study conducted in 2006 among
732 EU patients, found that approximately 46% of respondents believed that the primary function of the written consent form was to protect the hospital, 68% believed that the form allowed physicians to control the process, and only 41% understood that the primary function of the written consent form was to allow the patient to express their wishes for treatment.
However, as with any rule, there are certain exceptions. When a patient is unconscious, health care providers must obtain consent for the medical intervention from his or her legal representatives. Consent of the patient or the patient’s legal representative for medical intervention
is not required only if there are signs of a direct threat to the patient’s life and it is impossible for objective reasons to obtain consent to such an intervention by the patient or his/her legal representatives. The issue of observing the right to informed consent arises in connection with the public health policy of conducting mandatory testing and vaccinations during epidemics. However, it should be remembered that the circumstances in which the right to informed consent may be restricted must be determinative and reasonable. Certain populations are particularly vulnerable to violations of the right to informed consent.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health has drawn attention to children, the elderly, women, ethnic minorities, indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, persons living with HIV/AIDS, persons deprived of their liberty, sex workers, and persons who use drugs.
The Inter-American Court points to the issue of free and voluntary consent when it comes to women’s sexual and reproductive rights. Access to sexual and reproductive health information is very important for women to make competent and informed decisions. According to the Inter-American System, access to sexual and reproductive health information “includes a number of rights, namely the right to freedom of speech, personal integrity, protection of the family, privacy, freedom from violence and discrimination.” There is also some concern and misunderstanding of the right to informed consent among persons with disabilities and persons with mental illness. These are two categories of people whose rights are often violated.
Decisions about their treatment are very often based on uncertain factors, such as education or stigma associated with their disabilities, indifference and
indifference and lack of principle on the part of medical professionals. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health points out: “These violations are inherently incompatible with the right to health care.
There must be a clear prohibition against discrimination on the basis of physical disability…”. Under such circumstances, this is particularly important when procedural safeguards are aimed at protecting the right to informed consent, which is explicit and unwavering.