Informed consent and your rights when having a baby

Consent is your agreement for a healthcare professional to provide you with treatment and care, including:

• tests
• medicines
• treatments
• procedures

To give informed consent, you need to be given enough information about your choices to make decisions about your health and healthcare.

To give informed consent in Australia, you must:

• have legal capacity to consent (you can understand and weigh up your choices)
• give your consent voluntarily (it must be your decision, and no one can force you)
• be given enough information about your condition and your choices, including the benefits, risks, costs and alternatives of each choice
• have a chance to ask questions

Find out more about informed consent (Opens in new tab).

The healthcare rights of all Australians are set out in the Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights (Opens in new tab). These rights apply to any health care you receive, anywhere in Australia, including in:

• public hospitals (Opens in new tab)
• private hospitals
• general practice
• the community

You have a right to:

• access healthcare and treatment that meet your needs
• safe, high-quality healthcare, given in a safe environment
• respect for you as an individual, and to have your culture identity, beliefs and choices recognised and respected
• partnership with your healthcare providers, and any other support people you choose, to make shared decisions about your health
• information about your condition and treatment
• privacy
• give feedback or make a complaint without it affecting your healthcare

Find out more about your healthcare rights (Opens in new tab).

Informed consent can be given verbally (spoken) or in writing. It can also be implied.

The type of consent you give will depend on the examination, treatment or procedure to which you are consenting.

For example, by holding out your arm, you imply consent to having your blood pressure checked. For more complex procedures or treatments, such as surgery, you will usually be asked to provide consent in writing. This is usually by signing a statement of consent that your doctor has prepared.

Generally, you need to give informed consent yourself. If you are unable to consent, for example if you are unconscious, or you lack legal capacity to consent, someone else can consent on your behalf.

There is a legal framework that sets out who can make decisions in each situation. This framework may be different in each Australian state and territory.

If you are under 18 years old, your parent or guardian is usually the person who can give consent on your behalf. But there are some situations where young people under the age of 18 years can give consent.

Ask your doctor or healthcare provider about your own circumstances.

It's a good idea to think about who you would want to consent on your behalf, if you are unable to do so. You can appoint a substitute decision-maker ahead of time by signing a form granting someone medical power of attorney. This can only legally be used if you are ever unable to consent for yourself.

Visit the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing for more information about appointing a substitute decision-maker (Opens in new tab).

In most cases, you can change your mind even if you have already given consent and even if you have signed a consent form.

Make sure you tell your doctor or healthcare professional clearly if you change your mind.

If you don't want the treatment being offered, you have the right to refuse it. No one can force you to have a treatment or procedure without your informed consent.

Make sure you are fully aware of the benefits and risks of the treatment being offered. You should also understand the benefits and risks of doing nothing, before you decide. If something isn't clear, ask your doctor or midwife to explain it.

You can also ask for more time to decide.

Informed consent is not needed in an emergency if urgent treatment is needed to save your life or prevent serious damage to your health.

If there are situations where you wouldn't want certain treatments (for example, if you don't want blood transfusions, even to save your life) you should make sure your medical team know about this in advance.

If you aren't satisfied with your healthcare, there are many people you can speak to, including:

• your doctor or midwife
• the health complaints agency (Opens in new tab) or health department in your local state or territory (Opens in new tab)
• the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) (Opens in new tab), if you have a concern about the unsafe behaviour or practice of a registered health practitioner
• the National Health Practitioner Ombudsman (Opens in new tab)

It's a good idea to ask your doctor or midwife for a debrief if you aren't sure about something that happened to you, especially during:

• labour
• birth
• in an emergency

This is an opportunity to ask questions after an event, so that you better understand what happened.

Learn more about making a healthcare complaint.

Queensland Health (Opens in new tab) has information about informed consent (Opens in new tab), including information in different languages.

For more information about your healthcare rights, see this guide for consumers (Opens in new tab) from the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care — it's also available in a summary version (Opens in new tab).