Love as a Journey in the Informed Consent Context: Legal Abortion in England and Wales as a Case Study

Abstract

The right to informed consent (IC), as established in the Supreme Court judgment in Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board [2015] UKSC 11, I claim involves a 'journey of love' between clinicians and patients. The latter entails a process of dialogue and support between the parties, concerning disclosure of risks, benefits and alternatives to medical treatment(s). In this paper, I first claim that IC, in the light of the spirit of Montgomery, is predicated upon two pillars, namely patients' autonomy and medical partnership. I will then explore a case study: the case of legal abortion in England and Wales. Regarding this case, the progressive reduction of medical involvement has meant that little opportunity has been provided for this 'journey' to be unpacked in a medical context. I will ultimately claim that more needs to be done to safeguard IC as a 'journey of love' through valuing both patients' autonomy and medical partnership.

Keywords: Informed consent; abortion; autonomy; love; medical partnership.