What is a Patient Consent Form?

A patient consent form is a document a patient signs to indicate that he gives his consent for a particular action. For example, a patient may sign this type of form to acknowledge that he is aware of the risks of a particular medical procedure and gives his consent for the treatment. An individual may also sign this type of form to give a doctor or a facility permission to release records or share information about his health. Sometimes a patient may even sign a patient consent form to give a medical professional or facility permission to include information about him in a publication.

In many cases, patients may be asked to sign these forms before receiving treatments or undergoing certain procedures. These forms often require patients to acknowledge that they have been told the risks and benefits of the procedure or treatment and are giving the medical professionals in question permission to perform the procedure. Often, these forms briefly explain the risks and benefits above the signature section so that patients are sure to see this information before signing. Sometimes, these forms also require the patient to fill in a short medical history section. For example, a person may have to provide details about his vaccination history when signing a patient consent form for a new vaccination.

Sometimes a patient may sign a patient consent form to give his permission for a health care professional or facility to share his information with someone else. For example, a person may sign a form to allow his specialist to share medical information about him with his primary care doctor. A patient may also sign a similar form to allow his doctor to share information about him with his insurance company or another organization. In some cases, a patient may even have to sign such a form if he wants to give his doctors permission to share his medical information with his family members.

Often, patients are also asked to sign patient consent forms because their doctors want to share information about them in some sort of publication. For example, a doctor may wish to publish information about a unique medical case in a medical journal. In such a case, he may have to obtain his patient's permission to share these details. In some places, a doctor may have to obtain permission even if he plans to publish this information without including identifying details such as the patient's name and age.