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BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Officials announced reinforced guidelines for doctors and medical students performing "sensitive examinations" Monday.
The US Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said providers must receive written "informed consent" from patients before administering breast, pelvic, prostate, rectal and other examinations under anesthesia.
"Informed consent includes the right to refuse consent for sensitive examinations conducted for teaching purposes and the right to refuse to consent to any previously unagreed examinations to treatment while under anesthesia," DHHS said.
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The reinforcements come amid "increasing concerns about the absence of informed consent" when medical students perform these examinations as training exercises during unrelated procedures, CMS said.
In 2020 The New York Times reported on a nonconsenting Arizona woman who received a pelvic exam while under anesthesia for stomach surgery.
"While CMS understands that the performance of such examinations has been necessary for teaching medical and other students critical clinical examination skills, we believe that patient permission for these exams is an essential part of the informed consent process..." CMS said.
Under the guidelines, patients must understand their diagnosis, prognosis and course of treatment to provide informed consent.
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