ABSTRACT
Although most accounts of the history of informed consent begin with the aftermath of human experimentation in the Second World War, there is evidence to suggest that consent was contemplated in physicians’ codes of ethics in the Middle Ages. This chapter examines the doctor-patient relationship in the so-called ‘dark age’ of medieval medicine with the aim of uncovering a narrative of consent that differs from its contemporary story of autonomy. Medieval medicine was a domain strictly controlled by the Christian Church. Favouring theory over practice, this enterprise of monastic medicine worked to align many of the popular medical treatises of the ancient period (such as the works of Galen and Hippocrates) with a Christian ethic. This was aided by the theological epistemology that was prevalent during the medieval period which fostered divine explanations for health and sickness. Within this context, the physician acted as an agent of God. Coupled with other understandings of medieval consent in theological discussions of religious conversion, marriage formation, and trade and commerce, a picture of consent within the medieval medical context emerges as a form of submission (to God), manifested as a strict regime of self-management. The relationship between this medieval model of consent and contemporary regimes of patient self-care is explored at the chapter’s end, noting the ways in which this alternative story of consent may still operate today.
