RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Informed Consent in the Nuclear Medicine Setting
JF Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
JO J. Nucl. Med. Technol.
FD Society of Nuclear Medicine
SP 1
OP 4
DO 10.2967/jnmt.110.083931
VO 39
IS 1
A1 M. Sara Rosenthal
YR 2011
UL http://tech.snmjournals.org/content/39/1/1.abstract
AB In the nuclear medicine setting, the task of obtaining informed consent for procedures that require it is frequently left to the nuclear medicine technologist. Unfortunately, a patient's signature on a consent form does not mean the patient has given informed consent, or what legal scholars call valid consent. On completion of this scholarly bioethics article, the reader will understand the troubled history that led to informed consent as social and regulatory policy. Additionally, the reader will discover the meaning of “informed consent,” which includes 3 critical components: disclosure, decision-making capacity, and voluntariness. Finally, this article will discuss which nuclear medicine procedures require informed consent, how to assess whether patients have given informed consent, what to do when the patient refuses a procedure, and what to do when informed consent is unachievable.