From informed consent to informed dissent in health care: historical evolution in the twentieth century

In 2017 there exists a general consensus in the international medical-scientific community regarding the meaning of the expression “informed consent” in health care. Informed consent is, according to current definitions, the free acceptance, on the part of the patient, of health interventions, following complete and understandable information concerning the benefits and risks of the latter, the available medical alternatives, the method of implementation and the collateral effects (1). The expression “informed consent” is the result of a long historical trail, and in particular of the modifications, typical of the last century, of the patient-physician relationship