Informed consent of the patient for medical intervention during biomedical research

Abstract

The article reflects the concept of «informed consent of the patient», indicates the normative regulation and consolidation of this concept, examines the issues of the right to give consent for medical research and the right to refuse to carry it out, analyzes the principle of a person’s free consent in the context of international legal acts, and the relevance of this topic for today is also emphasized.
 Human life is a complex and mysterious mechanism that combines physical and spiritual essence. Often, during the entire life path, a person faces various obstacles to his quality existence and comprehensive development. Some of these obstacles already exist in a person from birth, and some may arise during life. In one case, a person can overcome them on his own, in another, he needs the medical assistance of doctors, specialists in the desired direction. More serious obstacles, that is, diseases existing from birth or those that have arisen during life, require comprehensive, targeted treatment, which includes biomedical research or surgical intervention. Important in this aspect is the issue of the consent of a person - a patient to medical treatment and conducting biomedical research, as well as the normative definition and consolidation of such consent.
 Having studied, analyzed and researched the issue of «informed consent of the patient for conducting biomedical research», it is possible to come to the unequivocal position that this issue is very relevant and important today. It is mentioned and constantly improved in both international and national legislation. A person repeatedly needs medical assistance during his life.
 The right to life and health is guaranteed to everyone by the Constitution of Ukraine and should be unhindered for a person to exercise this right. The process of diagnosis and treatment depends only on the person himself and his free decision. Only with the patient’s consent is this or that study conducted. International legal acts indicate that a person’s failure to consent to medical intervention is considered an interference in his personal private life, a violation of his dignity and freedom.
 «Informed consent» includes not only the concept of consent itself, i.e. the free decision of a person, but also an explanation of a specific case or research procedure. And it largely depends on the specialist. Will he be able to convey and explain the patient’s problem, illness, actions correctly, fully and in an accessible form? Yes, free consent is given by a person, but the doctor also influences this decision to some extent. Patients’ freedom in choosing medical care methods is somewhat limited. The patient can choose only among those methods of medical intervention recommended by the attending physician or refuse treatment.
 That is why the question of «informed patient consent» will continue to be one of the most debated issues and will repeatedly be an excellent topic for research by young scientists.