Before you decide
Informed consent: what it is, and what it is not
The rule in one line
No medical treatment can be started or continued without your free and informed consent. Law 219 of 2017 states this in Article 1. It applies to a surgical procedure as well as to a hyaluronic acid injection.
What you have the right to know
La stessa legge elenca le informazioni che ti spettano, e le vuole complete, aggiornate e comprensibili per te, non corrette in astratto:
- la diagnosi e la prognosi;
- i benefici e i rischi del trattamento proposto;
- le possibili alternative;
- che cosa succede se rifiuti, o se ci rinunci dopo.
Le ultime due righe sono quelle che quasi nessuno chiede, e sono le più utili: l’alternativa e il non farlo sono due opzioni vere, e devono esserti presentate come tali.
You can also choose the opposite: not to receive the information or to designate a trusted person to receive it on your behalf. This is also your right and must be documented in your medical record.
How it must be collected
In writing (o con una videoregistrazione, o con strumenti adatti a chi ha una disabilità), e finisce in cartella clinica. Se ti viene chiesto un consenso solo a voce, e nient’altro resta scritto da nessuna parte, manca un pezzo.
You can change your mind. Always
You have the right to refuse all or part of the treatment and to withdraw consent at any time: even after giving it, even if withdrawing it stops the treatment. You don’t have to justify your decision.
Why it’s stricter in aesthetic medicine
An aesthetic treatment is performed on a healthy person and is not medically necessary: no one is treating a disease. That’s why courts require aesthetic doctors to provide more rigorous information than elsewhere: they must account for outcomes you may dislike, not just clinical complications.
And what it is NOT
It’s not a waiver. Signing does not remove responsibility from the physician or make you waive any rights. In fact, poorly collected informed consent is itself a physician’s issue, regardless of how the treatment went.
It’s not a one-size-fits-all form. A form that could be signed by anyone for anything hasn’t informed you of anything.
From here
Questions to ask before a treatment: le stesse cose, girate in domande che puoi porre in visita.
The medical register, and how to consult it: il consenso vale se chi te lo chiede è il medico che eseguirà il trattamento.