We tell our patients that if it makes their cancer journeys any easier, we will do the worrying for them.Īnd we really do wring our hands about our decisions, and rend our garments over bad outcomes that result from our recommendations.Ī fundamental challenge with this process is that it is often unrealistic to think that you actually could be fully informed of what you’re about to undergo. Others trust their doctors to recommend what’s best for their health, and find comfort in handing decisions about interventions like chemotherapy or heart surgery over to another. Some people don’t want to hear about potential bad outcomes. When is the last time you read a 25-page document from beginning to end?īut maybe it’s O.K. We will then ask you to sign the final page, acknowledging your understanding and your agreement to participate in the trial. Oh, and we’ll tell you that you are responsible for any medical costs not covered by insurance or the trial sponsor. Before you can enroll in a clinical trial of a cancer drug, we’ll hand you a 25-page document that describes the trial’s purpose, its design, the medications you’ll receive, other standard treatments, and the complications you may suffer. Unfortunately the farce of informed consent only worsens in medical research. We said we were, fearing disappointing our doctor if we said otherwise.
We have both undergone medical procedures ourselves for which a colleague asked us to acknowledge that we were properly informed. We’ve been on the receiving end of this, too.
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