THE LEGAL RIGHTS IN INFORMED CONSENT FORM FOR TREATMENT

CAI Yinghong;

Abstract

This dissertation focused on the legal rights in the informed consent form for treatment and its application
in China. The purpose was to fnd out the way to modify the contents of the informed consent form for treatment in China according to the current written laws. Informed consent for treatment has become a legal requirement in China more recently than in the West, in 1994 when the Regulation of Administering Medical Institution went into effect. China has a long history in using written law instead of common law or case law as the base of the legal system. But to date, no statutory laws or regulations can provide detailed answers to the question of what should be included in the consent form for treatment. Conflicts between patients and
doctors occur inevitably from time to time. In this study, 80 samples of the consent forms were collected from five hospitals in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province in South China. After analyzing the items of the 80 informed consent forms according to the statutes, we found that there were many problems in the consent forms, such as the absence of record of age, mental status, and time. The practice of informed consent needs more attention by scholars and administrative ofcials. The usage status of the consent form in the whole country needs to be investigated in further studies.