Evaluation of the supreme court decisions regarding informed consent in malpractice cases

Introduction and Objective: The concept of "right to enlightenment and informed consent", which has been mentioned frequently in recent years, has taken an important place in the implementation of the principle of respect for the autonomy of the individual and the right to determine his own future. The cases regarding the medical malpractice claims due to the lack of informed consent form that have been submitted and decided by the Supreme Court are examined. It is aimed to determine the claims and to contribute to the elimination of these deficiencies in practice by questioning which branches of the medicine are encountered more frequently, whether there is a consent form in the patient file and if there is any legal validity of this form. Materials and Methods: In our study; 76 decisions that are in compliance with the conditions we have determined for our study from the files submitted and decided by the Supreme Court between 2006 and 2019 were examined. Results: It has been determined that the most frequent sued medical branches are the surgical branches (77,6%), among the surgical branches the most common sued branch is plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery, 46% of the cases have informed consent form in the file content, 59% of the surgical procedures have informed consent form in the file content, 20,5% of the expert reports received during the litigation process have assessment about the informed consent, the decision of the court has been overturned in 66 of 70 civil suits and in 3 of the 6 criminal suits by the Supreme Court. When the reasons for the Supreme Court to overturn the local court decisions are examined; it was stated that additional report regarding physician's fault and informed consent was required in 37,6% of cases, and evidence should be collected about the informed consent by the local court in 27,5% of cases. Conclusion:. Informed consent is one of the elements of the legitimacy of medical intervention, but it is also a tool that strengthens the trust relationship between the physician and the patient and ensures the active participation of the patient in the iii diagnosis and treatment processes. In order to minimize malpractice claims, healthcare professionals are required to have knowledge of the legislation regarding informed consent and communicate effectively with their patients. Key Words: Decisions of the Supreme Court, informed consent, malpractice