Medicolegal Issues

What to tell patients about side effects

Current Psychiatry. 2006 February;5(2):67-74

References

1. American Psychiatric Association. Practice guidelines. Available at: http://www.psych.org/psych_pract/treatg/pg/prac_guide.cfm. Accessed Dec. 27, 2005.

2. Slovenko R. Update on legal issues associated with tardive dyskinesia. J Clin Psychiatry 2000;61(suppl 4):45-57.

3. American Psychiatric Association. Principles of informed consent in psychiatry. Available at: http://www.psych.org/edu/other_res/lib_archives/archives/199601.pdf. Accessed Dec. 27, 2005

4. Sard v Hardy, 379 A2d 1014 (1977).

5. Wilkinson v Vesey, 295 A2d 676 (1972).

6. Canterbury v Spence, 464 F2d 772,755 (DC Cir 1972).

7. Schachter D, Kleinman I. Psychiatrists’ documentation of informed consent. Can J Psychiatry 1998;43:1012-7.

8. Berner M. Informed consent. In: Lifson LE, Simon RI (eds). The mental health practitioner and the law. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; 1998:23-43.

9. Hinton M. Experts urge caution in prescribing medications for off-label use. Psychiatric News Sept. 1, 2000. Available at: http://www.psych.org/pnews/00-09-01/experts.html. Accessed Dec. 27, 2005.

Cases are selected by Current Psychiatry’s editors from Medical Malpractice Verdicts, Settlements & Experts, with permission of its editor, Lewis Laska of Nashville, TN (www.verdictslaska.com). Information may be incomplete in some instances, but these cases represent clinical situations that typically result in litigation.

Table 2

What to include when documenting informed consent

Diagnosis
Nature and purpose of the proposed treatment
Risks Infrequent risks that pose a significant possibility of harm Frequent risks that pose less danger
Reasonably expected benefits
Alternate treatments, their risks and benefits
Risks of no treatment
Source: Reference 8

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What to tell patients about side effects

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