ECT and special problems of informed consent

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Abstract
Whether severely depressed patients can validly consent to ECT [electroconvulsive therapy] indeed whether anyone should be asked to consent to a treatment that some have held is disabling and beyond the range of rational choice was studied. Clarification in the use of terms competent and rational was suggested. Examples of cases where ECT may appropriately be used with and without a patient''s consent were presented. Except in cases in which patients may die without ECT, physicians will not err morally by respecting patients'' informed decisions about treatment.

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