Analysis of the High Court Decisions on Informed Consent Cases in Turkey From a Forensic Point of View

Abstract

Informed consent is linked to the principle of patient autonomy and has an important place in common medical codes of conduct and legislative regulations. The aim of this study is to determine the judgments and reviews of the high court (Yargıtay) related to informed consent and to discuss them from a medicolegal aspect within Turkish jurisprudence. In the search engine of the website publishing high court decisions, the keywords "informed consent", "information", "consent" and "assent" were used without any date limitation. In this study, N=32 high court judgments were investigated. The data obtained were analyzed in light of the literature and guidelines. In 23 of the cases (71.9%) surgical interventions requiring general anesthesia were performed. In the other 9 cases (28.1%) surgical interventions not requiring general anesthesia and medical interventions with diagnostic and/or treatment purposes were performed. There was a statistically significant difference between the groups with informed consent and without informed consent for "surgical interventions not requiring general anesthesia and medical interventions with diagnostic and/or treatment purposes". The high court identified that in 17 of the cases (53.1%) informed consent was not present while in 15 (46.9%) informed consent was obtained. The court could not prove that informed consent was obtained in 15/17 cases in the group without consent, while in 7/15 cases in the consent group inadequate informed consent was obtained. The high court interrogated the extent and adequacy of informed consent for all types of surgical interventions both requiring and not requiring general anesthesia and medical interventions with diagnostic and/or treatment purposes. The types of surgical and medical interventions that require written informed consent and the aims of informed consent should be re-evaluated.

Evaluation of Supreme Court Decisions Regarding Informed Consent in Lawsuits Opened with Alleged Medical Malpractice: Cross-Sectional Research

“…Ülkemizde yapılan bir çalışmada; Yargıtayın aydınlatılmış onam ile ilgili kararları incelenmiş, incelenen 32 davanın 15'inde (%46,9) aydınlatılmış onamın mevcut olduğu tespit edilmiştir. 14 Çalışmamızda ise incelenen 76 Yargıtay kararının 35'inde (%46) dosya içeriğinde aydınlatılmış onam formu bulunduğu saptanmıştır. Aydınlatılmış onam formlarının dosyada mevcut olma oranının düşük olması, hekimler arasında aydınlatılmış onam hususunda yeterli farkındalığın oluşmadığı ve tıbbi kayıt tutma konusunda eksiklikler olduğu kanaatini oluşturmaktadır.…”