Informed Consent & Legal and Ethical Issues
In the introduction, the author discusses the nature of the connections between informed consent and legal and ethical issues in counseling. Also addressed is the nature of modern health care which causes additional complexities in this area. The body of the analysis focuses on the nature of informed consent, including its definition, its role in the counselor-client relationship, the ways it relates to a host of ethical and legal concerns, and its function as a means of fostering a deeper understanding between counselor and client with respect to the counseling process. Legal and ethical issues are also addressed in this section, including specific examples of each and also the ways in which informed consent pertains to various legal and ethical issues. A conclusion addresses the changing nature of health care and what it means to the relationship between informed consent and legal and ethical issues, as well as reaffirming the belief that there are no absolute measures of informed consent.
Informed Consent & Legal and Ethical Issues
In counseling, informed consent and legal and ethical issues merge in order for maximum protection of rights for both the counselor and the client. Yet, informed consent is much more than just the signature of the client on a piece of paper, for it is a contract that helps protect the legal and ethical rights of the client and the counselor, one that is symbiotic in nature. Incorporate into the informed consent contrast are legal and ethical issues. These issues, such as confidentiality and the qualifications of the counselor, are complex and often vague particularly in an era of managed care that only complicates such aspects of informed consent such as confidentiality. This analysis will examine informed consent and legal and ethical issues when it comes to the counselor-client relationship.
Informed consent is the “formal permission give...