ABSTRACT
The phrase 'informed consent' appears frequently in the dental literature, but it is often used with considerable imprecision and consequently there is much misunderstanding of its meaning. First, it is often expressed as a legal requirement prior to the treatment of patients. Second, the phrase itself is a misnomer, or at least misleading, implying perhaps that there is a difference between 'consent' and 'informed consent'. Third, it implies that the provision of information is simply to obtain the patient's agreement to go ahead with the proposed treatment. This chapter proposes to clarify the meaning of the phrase 'informed consent', placing it in its proper ethical and legal contexts. It examines the legal requirements and standards concerned with providing information and the tensions that exist between ethics and the law. The concept of 'informed consent' is traditionally recognised as a 'transatlantic doctrine' that has its origins in the civil rights era in the America of the 1950s and 1960s.
