Workshop at Lakehead University will educate about informed consent in health care

March 12, 2019 – Thunder Bay, Ont.

Jane Meadus is speaking at a workshop that will educate people about informed consent in health care on Thursday, March 21 at 1 pm in Lakehead University’s Faculty Lounge.

Meadus is a lawyer who is the institutional advocate at the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly in Toronto.

“The issue of consent generally relates to the failure of the health-care professional to obtain informed consent,” Meadus said.

“This may be not obtaining informed consent at all, obtaining ‘consent’ from an incapable person, not obtaining consent from the correct substitute decision maker, obtaining consent from a substitute decision-maker when the person is still capable, and not advising the person that they have been found incapable and that they have a right to challenge this finding.”

Meadus said lawyers can help in two ways. On behalf of health practitioners and institutions, they can make sure that the correct processes are in place to ensure that informed consent is obtained properly. 

“They can also assist patients when consent is not being obtained properly, either in correcting the situation, or taking steps following treatment without consent such as making a complaint to a regulatory college or commencing a lawsuit.”

Health practitioners are required to understand the law under which they are practicing, Meadus said, in this case the Health Care Consent Act.  “If they are knowledgeable, they can advise the patient and/or their substitute decision-maker of their rights and responsibilities.”

By attending this workshop, participants will learn what informed consent is and how to obtain it, she said.

“They will also learn what incapacity means in a health-care context, who makes a finding of incapacity and what does it mean; when you turn to a substitute decision-maker and who they are; the rules of substitute decision-making; the who, when and how of challenging a substitute decision-makers decision; and when to go to the Consent and Capacity Board or the Public Guardian and Trustee.”

Lakehead University’s Centre for Education and Research on Aging and Health and the North West LHIN Regional Palliative Care Program at St. Joseph’s Care Group are hosting this informative workshop.

To register for this free workshop, visit https://cerah.lakeheadu.ca/events/ on or before Friday, March 15. For more information call Kimberly Ramsbottom at 766-7297 or email kramsbot@lakeheadu.ca.

 

 

 

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Media: For more information or interviews, please contact Brandon Walker, Communications and Marketing Associate, at (807) 343-8177 or mediarelations@lakeheadu.ca.

 

 

Lakehead University has approximately 9,700 full-time equivalent students and 2,000 faculty and staff in 10 faculties at two campuses in Orillia and Thunder Bay, Ontario. Lakehead is a fully comprehensive university: home to Ontario’s newest Faculty of Law in 44 years, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, and faculties of Engineering, Business Administration, Health & Behavioural Sciences, Social Sciences & Humanities, Science & Environmental Studies, Natural Resources Management, Education, and Graduate Studies. Maclean’s 2019 University Rankings place Lakehead University among Canada's Top 10 primarily undergraduate universities and in 2018 Research Infosource named Lakehead Research University of the Year in its category for the fourth consecutive year. Visit www.lakeheadu.ca.