Consent Forms

[fruitful womb]

3 years ago I went to the same hospital where my ds#1 was born asking for a copy of a consent form. There wasn't one in the records. They refused to give me one and they were rude to me. One of the two nurses was documenting our conversation. Thought I was suing them.



So, after work on Monday 9/24 my dh goes to the same hospital where my ds1 was born. He asked for a copy of a consent form. They said they're not suppose to hand them out before the baby is born. Dh said, "I would really like to read and discuss all forms before the baby is born because I can only imagine being completely whacked out and not really in my right mind to review forms." The nurse understood his point. She calls another nurse, "I've got an expectant father who wants to see a copy of a circ form." They call it circ. Not circumcision. She comes back with something different. Dh says, "This is not a consent form." She replied, "Oh I know, its an informational package we like to give all our new parents." Dh: "Thats nice, I would like to see the consent form please." That nurse leaves and returns with yet another folder of the "Postpartum Care" for mothers. But in it was hiding a consent form. By this time there was quite a crowd around the nurses station. Nearly every nurse came to witness this unusual exchange. She opens the "Postpartum Care Guide", hands him the consent form and says, "The risks listed on this form are the absolute worse case scenario , like death and the loss of penis." She was searching for it. Dh exclaimed, "Wow, loss of penis! If people knew that No ONE would do this to their child!" Then chuckled. All the nurses laughed then suddenly they got really quiet. The vibes in the room were very intense. Dh could tell they wanted to say something so bad. But they didn't.



Dh didn't want to risk being suspected of something mischievous and as long as he had that copy of the consent form he got out of there. Oh and the nurse also said, "The doctor should explain everything to you." Which they won't unless you ask.



This piece of paper is very detailed. Front and Back! It still doesn't list meatal stenosis! : We both don't remember anything like this AT ALL! It even has information on anesthetics and a lot of technical terms. Can I post this copy here on MDC without violating copy write laws or the UA? I really want to show you guys this form. I'm itching to know what you think of it! I would take the name out of it. I don't want to make it worse for the nurse who gave this form to us, well him b/c I wasn't there. She could probably get fired for this. I wouldn't forgive myself for that. Plus I don't want to alarm the hospital or the doctor in case we're lucky enough to find a lawyer that'll agree to represent us.

[PuppyFluffer]

If you are involved in any legal issues, I would be careful about what you post here.

I will check with our administrators about whether you can post the consent form. If you have any questions about what is appropriate to post, please PM a moderator or an administrator. We handle those questions off the forum.

[carriebft]

I always thought that consent forms should be a battle front in this movement. It would be interesting and productive to gather as many as possible from hospitals across the USA and use them to demonstrate the lack of informed consent and show which ones are missing major information-- also, it would be interesting to see if the ones that are more detailed and demonstrate the real risks are from hospitals with lower circumcision rates.

[cravenab00]

i asked to see the consent form i signed when I realized that i had circ'ed my sons out of ignorance. I honestly, never read it before i signed. I truly thought it was just a little snip.

the consent, was 3 or 4 sentences long at the MOST. Said nothing about that it was cosmetic, and unecessary. Said "i have been informed of the risks and benefits of this procedure" etc... (i hadnt been , at all)

i've talked with several people at that hospital, and no one sees ANY reason to change the form.

[phdmama06]

All I can say about consent forms is that, when my OB came in to ask me if I wanted to have DS circed, he had the consent form in his hands. I got the impression he was intending to have me sign it without giving me a spiel on how circ worked, risks/benefits, etc. (Although to be fair, I guess I can't be sure.) I didn't get a good look at the form, but it was printed only on one side, the print was fairly large, at least 12pt, I would say, and it didn't fill up the page, even close to it. How much information can really be given in that amount of space? Probably not much. :

[Fi.]

Originally Posted by cravenab00

i asked to see the consent form i signed when I realized that i had circ'ed my sons out of ignorance. I honestly, never read it before i signed. I truly thought it was just a little snip.

the consent, was 3 or 4 sentences long at the MOST. Said nothing about that it was cosmetic, and unecessary. Said "i have been informed of the risks and benefits of this procedure" etc... (i hadnt been , at all)

i've talked with several people at that hospital, and no one sees ANY reason to change the form.

Why not take legal action since it says you were informed and you actually weren't. If you signed it after birth you can use that in your defense as well I believe.

[eepster]

I think an overly long consent form just becomes background noise so to speak. I've signed a fair amount of medical concent forms over the years and there is always some impatient person sitting there watching as I try to get my dyslexic brain to tease out the actual information amongst the legalesse in teeny tiny print.

IMO the longer the form the less chance anyone will actually read it.

[serendipity22]

Why not take legal action since it says you were informed and you actually weren't.

Good idea.