Issues in Informed Consent from Patients with Advanced Gastrointestinal Cancer

• Published in: Nippon Shokaki Geka Gakkai zasshi Vol. 29; no. 10; pp. 2014 - 2018
• Main Authors: Seo, Yousuke, Saito, Takao, Baba, Hideo, Kohnoe, Shunji, Tomoda, Hirotsugu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: The Japanese Society of Gastroenterological Surgery 1996
• Subjects: advanced gastrointestinal cancer; informed consent; telling true diagnosis to cancer patients
• ISSN: 0386-9768; 1348-9372
• DOI: 10.5833/jjgs.29.2014

A questionnaire survey on informed consent (IC) was conducted among patients with advancedgastrointestinal cancer as well as among hospital staff. Of all the patients informed of their disease, 90.7% positively accepted IC, 48% wanted IC given in a terminal stage and 65.9% wanted to know the prognosis of their disease. However, 28.5% stated astonishment at IC and 16.2% replied that their emotional wound had not healed yet. On the other hand, in 68.6% of patients with advanced gastrointesti nal cancer who were told the true diagnosis, 97.6% positively accepted direct IC. Among doctors, 84% reported that they told the patients the true diagnoses. The patient wanted precise information about their disease. More than 75% of them wanted all information given directly to them, not to their family. Therewas considerable discrepancy between patients and hospital staff about satisfaction with the present status of IC. Several issues in IC remain to be considered, such as whether IC should be obtained from all patients, whether all information should be given, and how to deal with a patient's veto of IC.