ATIVIDADE MÉDICA E SEGURANÇA JURÍDICA: A INSTRUMENTALIZAÇÃO DAS INFORMAÇÕES E O TERMO DE CONSENTIMENTO INFORMADO COMO FATORES DE PREVENÇÃO DE LITÍGIOS ENTRE MÉDICO E PACIENTE

Abstract

With the medicine’s advancement and the achievements in the affirmation and consolidation of rights in the entitlement to health and consumer law, the doctor-patient relationship has gone through profound transformations and momentum, gradually losing its protectionist character. This change in the relationship has influenced the number of demands filed by patients against physicians, which requires legal position on medical civil liability and the possible application of the Consumer Protection Code (CPC) to the doctor-patient, especially in relation to the right to information. The informed consent is a practice that can be carried out in any type of planned medical intervention. Thus, the informed consent form (ICF) appears in order to provide the patient with enlightening information so that he himself may decide, consciously, on the adoption of possible medical treatment. The purpose of this study was to explain about the ICF, its assumptions and its relationship with the CPC and, later, to analyze judicial decisions of the Supreme Court and to ascertain the importance of this term as an instrument for the physicians’ defense in disputes with patients. In analyzing the most recent judgments of the Supreme Court on the subject, it was verified the importance of the CPC application to remedy the damage caused by the medical professional, as well as the importance of the ICF for medical defense and possible prevention of disputes. Occupying a primordial position in the medical routine, the term emerges as a legal certainty document for the physician, as a fundamental part in any judicial defense, proving the fulfillment of the duty to inform. But it is also important for the patient, when it is applied correctly, as it is the result of dialogue and consensus between the parties. Making the medical class more aware of the legal aspects that revolve around the subject is extremely important for medical law, avoiding the misconceptions that usually transfer the doctor-patient relationship from the offices and hospitals to the forums and courts.