Are You or Your Employees Giving Informed Consent for Health Care?

In a word, probably not. That’s not how the system works. People are not well informed in the space of a short office visit about the possible ramifications of treatments, or of other treatment options. We trust our providers to give us their best counsel, and assume they do. They can’t be expected to fully inform us about our health and options for care. There is neither the time nor the incentives to do that. Besides, they represent “one product line” (medical) and usually know little to nothing about non-medical care options, so the information they offer is necessarily limited.

Consider the time in a short office visit (12 minutes long? 15 minutes?)that a provider has to make an assessment, diagnose, create a treatment plan, and make orders. And then they’re expected to provide an explanation of the possible risks and benefits about medical procedures, medications, or other treatment? Most of us have heard the long list of horrific side-effects spewed out in a television commercial. Do we think people hear that same list from their doctors? I don’t think so.

What is almost always lacking in this conventional care scenario is the lack of consideration of non-medical approaches and natural healing. (Yes, the provider may make some recommendations about lifestyle choices but generally conventional medical care involves, well, medical care.) It is not the job of medical professionals to also know the scope of nonmedical interventions. That isn’t what they trained in (or were tested on). So consent is being given in the absence of other information. This is the system we live with so we work with it.

When I wrote my dissertation decades ago the figure was 33% of the public was using “alternative or complementary care” or what many really consider traditional care. (This includes nutrition, herbs, chiropractic, acupuncture, homeopathy, and many other forms of natural care.) The percentage in 2025 is said to be only about 38% which I find not believable, but whatever….

There is a plethora of natural care measures that can help just about every illness or health challenge. It is NOT the doctor’s or any other conventional provider’s job to inform the patient or client about healing alternatives because that is not that professional’s specialty!

When we shop for shoes, we don’t expect the salesperson to know about the rest of the outfit we’re putting together. Their job is to sell shoes. That’s their area of expertise. We don’t expect more from them except a good fit and good shoes.

It’s unreasonable to expect a physician or other provider to know an area of healing they have never studied. It’s more likely that the provider will have some skepticism about “unproven and untested” care, even if that care spans centuries.   

Informed consent implies that a patient has been fully advised by a healthcare provider of the expected benefits, risks and possible side-effects of a given treatment. What consumers often fail to notice is that there are usually other care options they are not told about. Providers don’t have that information and are not withholding anything, ideally. Consumers have access to information and can do their own investigation.. How can you trust sources? When it’s well know that the biggest pharmaceutical companies have all paid billions of dollars in fines for misrepresenting their products, you can guess one source of information to be skeptical about.

If you go to a medical doctor, are you giving informed consent when you agree to one kind of care when you really want to know about different care? (An example would be accepting the recommendation of back surgery when you have reservations and are considering how a chiropractor might help you.) If you go shopping for shoes in a department store and then decide you prefer getting a new jacket, you’ll go to the department that sells jackets. You won’t feel guilty that you’re leaving the shoe department. You are drawn to where you need to shop and where your needs will be met. You can change your mind about healthcare interventions.

Don’t assume that every procedure you are offered is necessary or even safe. Don’t go along to get along. Don’t buy the “this is our policy” as meaning that it has to be your policy too. Don’t expect your provider to know your full history, expectations, or reservations. Don’t accept a hustle into accepting any kind of care you don’t want (maybe unless you’re bleeding profusely and then someone else might help you out with your decision making). Even if that care is covered by your insurance.

Do know that informed consent is, well, informed, and even well informed. Accept that the healthcare system is complex, that the vast majority of providers are doing their best in a difficult situation and that it is you who are ultimately responsible for your health. Know that the body always wants to heal and is depending on you being informed.

Contact me at 541-725-5977 if you think I can be of any help to your employees and improve your bottom line.