Consent

• Author: Maureen A. McTeer
• Pages: 80-80

80 •

PART

THREE:

Consent

Canadians

have come

a

long

way

from

the

medical pater-

nalism

that marked most

of the

twentieth century. With

our

new

autonomy

has

come

the

responsibility

to

make

difficult

decisions: about donating

our

organs, tissue,

and

limbs

for

transplant;

about

refusing

treatment,

even

though without

it

we

will die; about assisted suicide

and

euthanasia; about

the

very meaning

of

life

and

death.

In

Part

Three,

the

issues

of

consent

and

control

in

medi-

cal

decision-making

are

explored. Keeping control over

our

major

life

decisions

is key for all of us:

from

living wills

to

the

requirement

to

consent

to

medical treatment

to the

right

to

refuse

it for

ourselves,

our

children,

and

others

in our

care.

What

are our

rights

and

responsibilities

in

this area,

and is the law

keeping

up

with

the

changing realities sci-

ence

and

medical technology

offer?

These

are

some

of the

tough choices

we

will look

at in the

last part

of

this book.