Informed consent: the changing criminal reliefs of its absence in arbitrary medical treatments and its presence in case of early treatment provisions

Abstract

In recent years, informed consent of the patient has assumed such an important role in the physician-patient relationship that it has changed the system of criminal liability of the physician in case of intervention without consent, even in cases with successful results. There have also been legislative proposals to introduce the crime of arbitrary medical intervention, making it difficult to find a solution to this conflict. At present, the Italian Parliament is examining a draft bill on advanced directives, focusing on patient consent, which may not be given, or may be revoked after they have been given, also for treatments such as artificial nutrition and hydration, exempting the doctor from all civil and criminal liability. It is evident that such an emphasis on informed consent, which involves the patient in his treatment, is taking a dangerous path that can completely empty the doctor-patient therapeutic alliance played out in the field of medical care.