Let patients know risks, say ethics prizewinners

The
Catholic Weekly
Online

Sydney
22 August 2004

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Let patients know risks, say ethics prizewinners

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Let patients know risks, say ethics prizewinners

RESPECT FOR PATIENTS: Dr Justin Oakley receives the Eureka Prize for research in ethics from ACU National Pro-Vice-Chancellor Prof John Coll at the Australian Museum dinner.

Two researchers have won $10,000 and the Australian Catholic University (ACU National) Eureka Prize for research in ethics for research that shows how ethical considerations establish that comparative information on the clinical performance of individual surgeons should be made available to patients, as part of the process of giving informed consent.

Dr Justin Oakley, director, Centre for Human Bioethics at Monash University, and Dr Steve Clarke, research fellow, Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the Australian National University and Charles Sturt University, were announced as the winners at the 15th annual Australian Museum Eureka Prizes dinner.

They said: “When a patient consents to an operation they are relying on full disclosure of all foreseeable risks, and these risks will vary according to the level of ability of the available surgeons.

“Patients should be provided with the performance histories of the available doctors in order to understand properly the risks they are exposing themselves to when choosing to be operated on by a particular surgeon.”

ACU National acting vice-chancellor Prof Gabrielle McMullen said the research by Drs Oakley and Clarke “reinforces moves to develop greater transparency in the field of health care”, a practice widely followed in Britain and the US.

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