Informed Consent
Every member of the College of Osteopathic Manual Practitioners of Ontario (COMPO) is required to ensure that patient consent to any osteopathic treatment and that the consent is fully informed, voluntarily given, related to the patient’s condition and circumstances, not obtained through fraud or misrepresentations; and it is evidenced in a written form signed by the patient or otherwise documented in the patient record.
Osteopathic manual practitioners shall recognise that consent is an ongoing and evolving process involving ongoing discussions with a patient and not a single event of a patient’s signature on a consent form. If the osteopathic manual practitioner recommends a new treatment, there are significant changes in a patient’s condition, or there are significant changes in the material risks to a patient, the COMPO member shall continue to dialogue with the patient about the material risks, benefits and side-effects of the recommended treatment, including potential risks that may be of a special or unusual nature, and shall document those discussions in the patient's chart.
During discussions, COMPO members shall provide patients with an opportunity to ask questions concerning the proposed treatment and shall answer questions prior to the commencement of the treatment. Patients may withdraw their consent to any treatment at any time.
The Health Care Consent Act does not identify an age at which minors may exercise independent consent for health care because it is accepted that the capacity to exercise independent judgment for health care decisions varies according to the individual and the complexity of the decision at hand. COMPO members are encouraged to seek consent from the appropriate parent or guardian to treat children who do not clearly have the capacity to consent to a treatment.