Medical Physics

Biography

Biography: Nicolas Pourel

Abstract

Patient information duties are a basic task of Radiation Oncologists in their daily practice. This workshop will illustrate all the aspects of legal obligations taking the context of French Law as an example : the basic principles of the Law, who has to bring evidence of information and through which support in case of litigation, who is supposed to inform the patient, the principles of the individual interview between him/her and his/her physician, the documents that ought to be given to illustrate the practical aspects of treatment and its side effects, the value of written informed consent and when it is mandatory (clinical trial) are to be illustrated here. \r\nWe will try to focus particularly on how the first consultation of the patient (aka, ‘announcement consultation’) ought to be structured, knowing that, in most cases, most of the information is to be given orally but the key messages of that interview have to be simple, understandable and loyal, especially concerning the acute side effects and late sequellae of radiotherapy.\r\nA special emphasis will also be put on information documents that are to be given to the patient (basically, personalized treatment plan, disease specific and/or treatment-specific brochures, and, in some cases, a formal written consent form), especially in order to give a fair, comprehensive and clear information on the benefits and the risk of radiotherapy that has to be delivered.\r\n