The words to use
- Valid consent
- Agreement that is voluntary, informed and given by someone with capacity for that decision. If any of the three is missing, the consent fails, whatever the form says.
- Material risk
- A risk that a reasonable person in the patient's position would likely attach significance to, or that the doctor knows or should know this patient would. Set by Montgomery (2015).
- Therapeutic exception
- A narrow permission to withhold a risk when telling would seriously harm the patient's health. Montgomery said it must not be abused to stop a patient making an informed choice.
- Voluntariness
- A decision that is the patient's own, free from pressure by family, staff or circumstance. Persuading is fine; replacing the patient's will with someone else's is not.
