Journal of Indian Academy of Forensic Medicine

The practice of medicine involves multiple risks during various diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Due to which, there have been a number of malpractice suits based on lack of consent or inadequate consent from the patient for the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. The other reason for malpractice suits has been increased awareness among the patients for their rights. In fact, this aspect of medical practice has been the subject matter of judicial scrutiny in majority of the cases of medical malpractice as it involves the right of a patient on one hand and the duty of a doctor to take adequate care of his patients. This is specifically important as the burden of proving legal (valid) consent lies on the doctor. It is, therefore, of great significance that proper and correct consent should be obtained by a medical practitioner before performing any diagnostic or therapeutic procedures. Consent is not an event of merely obtaining signatures on paper before patient submits to particular treatment, but it is a process of communication. It should be remembered that an informed consent is a patient's right and a medical practitioner's duty. Various legal aspects of consent with reference to practice of medicine in the Indian context will be discussed in the present paper.