Consent–an issue that will not go away

Informed consent is one of the perennial problems of medical ethics. It raises interesting philosophical questions, but also questions about regulation and implementation. The paper by Fovargue and Miola in this issue look at the recent guidance to doctors on informed consent from the UK's General Medical Council (see page 494). They reach the rather depressing conclusion that whereas the law in the UK has moved forward in the recognition of patient autonomy, the GMC has moved backwards in some areas since the previous guidance was issued in 1998.

A paper by Potts et al also look at consent, but in this case consent to organ donation (see page 498). They criticise a paper by Ben Saunders published in the JME in 2010. Saunders combined David Estlund's concept of ‘normative consent’ with Peter Singer's ‘greater moral evil’ principle and argued on this basis that actual consent to organ donation after death is not necessary, only absence of a clear refusal. Potts and …