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Informed consent does not affect cataract surgery choice, study finds
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Being informed of the potential risks of undergoing cataract surgery has little effect on a patient’s decision to have the surgery, according to a study.
Christopher Kiss, MD, and colleagues at the University of Vienna, Austria, studied 70 patients about to undergo cataract surgery to assess the effect of the informed consent process on their decision making.
While cataract surgery has a low risk of complications, the number of malpractice lawsuits associated with the procedure is rising, accounting for one-third of all lawsuits against ophthalmologists, Dr. Kiss and colleagues said in the January issue of Archives of Ophthalmology. Because malpractice is hard to prove, inadequacy or absence of informed consent is cited as a secondary cause in more than 90% of ophthalmic malpractice cases, the authors said.
In the study by Dr. Kiss and colleagues, the patients, whose average age was 70, underwent a standardized informed consent procedure on the day before surgery. The patients were also invited to answer a survey consisting of 15 questions developed by clinical psychologists, lawyers and ophthalmologists.
In their responses to the survey, 28 of the 70 participants (40%) said they arrived for surgery without any information, 16 participants (23%) believed that there were surgical procedures without any risks, and 53 patients (76%) believed that there were no risks for their cataract surgery.
The risk of a complication that might affect sight postoperatively did not influence the decisions of 54 patients (77%) to undergo the surgery. And 55 patients (78%) said that the informed consent procedure did not influence their decision. Fifteen patients (22%) said the informed consent process helped them confirm their choice about undergoing the surgery.