In preparing for birth, the treatment of chronic health conditions or considerations for general health, informed consent is a legal aspect of your health care. By giving consent, you agree to the proposed procedure. However, here are a few things you may not know:

• Informed consent is a conversation; it is not solely a piece of paper, nor is it a signature.  

• If you are not having a conversation with your care providers, it lacks the opportunity to ask questions and hear about the risks involved in the proposed health care.  An often occurring scenario is simply being handed a blood requisition and told to go to the lab, and your care provider will call you if anything is of concern.  You have no idea what they are testing your blood for if it will lead to further testing, and you may not have considered that you may not even want the information that the results will give. You were never given an option to decline the test, and you have not received informed consent.

Why It Is Important

It is relative to your ability to make a choice.  If you don’t know your options, you don’t have any.   You can ask for alternatives to the treatment. However, you have to remember that medical providers work for a health authority and may not be able to provide you with options outside of their system. So either they don’t know of integrated health options, or they are not allowed to tell you. 

It’s important to know that if something doesn’t feel right to you, you may need more time to gather more information, make a decision or think things through.  You may also recognize that the Western medical system doesn’t align with your values in a specific case. In this case, you can look at holistic health options such as Naturopaths, Holistic Nutritionists, Acupuncture, Cannabis use, high-dose vitamins,  energy work, medical intuitive, Chiropractic or Traditional Chinese Medicine.  If you choose to stay within the medical system,  it is important for you to feel as though you are not being coerced or bullied into a test or procedure.  If you feel this is the case, I urge you to file a complaint.   It is your right to decide what is safe or risky to you, yes even in the face of death.  If you are told there are no other options, you are not receiving informed consent.  

When you are free to make choices in your own wellness and supported along the way, there is a sense of confidence that comes with it. 

Elements of Consent

An adult consents to health care if:

(a)the consent relates to the proposed health care,
(b)the consent is given voluntarily
(c)the consent is not obtained by fraud or misrepresentation,
(d)the adult is capable of making a decision about whether to give or refuse consent to the proposed health care,
(e)the health care provider gives the adult the information a reasonable person would require to understand the proposed health care and to make a decision, including information about

(i)the condition for which the health care is proposed,
(ii)the nature of the proposed health care,
(iii)the risks and benefits of the proposed health care that a reasonable person would expect to be told about, and
(iv)alternative courses of health care, and

(f)the adult has an opportunity to ask questions and receive answers about the proposed health care.

You have the freedom to revoke consent anytime before or during the procedure. Your care providers must respect that and move forward without intimidation.

Consent Rights

Every adult who is capable of giving or refusing consent to health care has:

(a)the right to give consent or to refuse consent on any grounds, including moral or religious grounds, even if the refusal will result in death,
(b)the right to select a particular form of available health care on any grounds, including moral or religious grounds,
(c)the right to revoke consent,
(d)the right to expect that a decision to give, refuse or revoke consent will be respected, and
(e)the right to be involved to the greatest degree possible in all case planning and decision making.

Assault and Battery

Assault: without the consent of another person, he applies force intentionally to that other person, directly or indirectly; (Government of Canada Justice Laws Website) 

Battery: an offensive touching or use of force on a person without the person's consent. (Webster’s Dictionary). Battery is not a criminal charge under the Criminal Code of Canada. 

According to Canadian Medical Protective Association,  “A physician may be liable in assault and battery when no consent was given at all, when the treatment went beyond or deviated significantly from that for which the consent was given, or if consent to treatment was obtained through serious or fraudulent misrepresentation in what was explained to the patient.”  

Example of an assault: You have been offered a vaginal exam and the doctor proceeded to rupture your membranes with a hook.  

Example of a Battery:  You’re in the second stage of labour pushing submerged in a tub or birth pool.  Your attendants physically removing you against your will.