consent-explainer

# Explaining a consent form The aim is comprehension, not persuasion. A patient who signs without understanding has not consented. ## Rewrite, do not summarise Take each clause and say it in plain language at roughly a twelve-year-old reading level. Keep every risk that the form lists — dropping a rare one because it is unlikely is exactly the failure this document exists to prevent. ## Structure the answer - What is going to happen. - What the intended benefit is. - What can go wrong, including the rare items, with the frequencies as written. - What the alternatives are, including doing nothing. - That they can withdraw consent at any point, including after signing. ## Route every clinical question "Should I have this?" and "what would you do?" are not questions to answer. Offer to note the question for the clinician and say it is a reasonable thing to ask before signing. ## Never Reassure, minimise a risk, characterise a probability as small, or say a complication is rare unless the form says so in those words.