Informed consent, price transparency, and disclosure
DOI
10.1111/bioe.13206
Abstract
In the American medical system, patients do not know the final price of treatment
until long after the treatment is given, at which point it is too late to say “no.” I argue
that without price disclosure many, perhaps all, tokens of consent in clinical medicine
fall below the standard of valid, informed consent. This is a sweeping and broad
thesis. The reason for this thesis is surprisingly simple: medical services rarely have
prices attached to them that are known to the patient prior to treatment. Yet, for
many patients, knowledge of the price is relevant to whether they would give
consent. If informed consent requires that patients know all information about their
treatment that is relevant to their decision, then consent to a medical intervention in
the absence of the price is not informed consent.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-15-2023
Publisher Statement
© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Recommended Citation
Director, Samuel. 2023. “Informed Consent, Price Transparency, and Disclosure.” Bioethics 37 (8): 741–47. doi:10.1111/bioe.13206.
