Informed Consent in Clinical Practice in Sweden: Challenges in protecting patients’ rights through medical science and law
Published in Förvaltningsrättslig tidskrift 2019 1, March 2019 s. 49–78
In recent studies of Swedish health care, substantial percentages of patients have reported that they have not been adequately informed of the nature of the care that they received and, in many cases, that their right to consent has not been respected. In response, the Swedish Agency for Health and Care Services Analysis has recommended several reforms as to how the Patient Act should be implemented and enforced, though these proposals have not yet been formally realized, at least in law. Of most importance, perhaps, no Swedish authority has acknowledged the significant legal consequences of these findings – namely, that the rights of patients to informed consent may be frequently violated in clinical practices in Sweden. This article, therefore, is a follow-up to its predecessor, Informed Consent as a Right: Regulatory Challenges in the Swedish Legal Framework (FT 2018: 233-267). It details why questions about Swedish law and clinical practice raise specific problems under Sweden’s human rights obligations according to international law. It also explains how Swedish law should be strengthened and how clinicians can properly inform patients and obtain their consent, not only in accordance with evidence-based medicine but also under Sweden’s standard of care.
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