I'm working in a non-teaching hospitals radiology department. Every procedure we do requires consent. In my past life of working in the ICU either the resident had to call the family for consent ahead of time or get the order for it to be deemed emergent. I was always told to never even witness a consent form unless I literally saw both parties sign the form.
Even when our doctors do bother to see the patient first, they just run through the procedure in two sentences, tell them to ask the nurse if they have any questions, sign a blank consent form, then leave the form on the table for me to fill out and have patient sign.
The first time I had a family member that wasn't present my coworker called them for me, consented them over the phone then handed me the phone and had me verify consent... they never spoke to a doctor.... two RNs don't make an MD... or did I miss something?
Then I started seeing this with ICU patients too, instead of bringing the families down, the ICU nurse would just consent them upstairs and have the Rad sign the form when they got downstairs. I've even seen orders that state "consent patient for procedure"
How is this a legal informed consent if the patient or family never spoke to a doctor?
Should I be witnessing the form being as though I didn't see the doctor consent the patient?
Will i be liable for any of this? Or is it ultimately the Rad's responsibility to get permission to do the procedure?
I'm in Texas, I tried to go through the practice act but it's really vague and I don't have an attorney to interpret it for me. Hoping someone here has thoughts.
