In this section you will find important information before surgical or obstetrical procedures.
Their purpose is to inform you and allow you to ask questions that would have gone unanswered, before you agree to the care.
In fact, according to the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences and the Federation of Swiss Doctors (FMH), operations and other invasive treatments – incisions, injections, radiotherapy, administration of drugs, require correct patient information and this information constitutes an element central from the right angle. In fact, informed consent is the justifying fact legitimizing the intervention which, in accordance with the jurisprudence of the Federal Court, achieves the objective constitutive elements of a bodily injury.
In addition, article 21 of the law on public health in Vaud describes the right to information: In order to be able to consent in a free and informed manner and to make good use of care, each patient has the right to be informed in a clear and appropriate on his state of health, the various examinations and possible treatments, the consequences and foreseeable risks that they imply, the prognosis and the financial aspects of the treatment. He can request a second medical opinion from an outside doctor. Each patient must also receive, upon admission to a health facility, written information on his rights and duties as well as on the conditions of his stay. Within the framework of its competences, all health professionals ensure that the patients they treat receive the necessary information in order to give valid consent… No care can be provided without the free and informed consent of the patient concerned capable of discernment, whether adult or minor. In the case of usual and non-invasive care, the patient’s consent may be tacit. A patient capable of discernment can at any time refuse or interrupt care or leave an establishment. The health professional or the establishment concerned then has the right to ask him to confirm his decision in writing after having clearly informed him of the risks thus incurred.