The Commitment to Inform the Patient According to the Jordanian Medical Liability Law of 2018

Abstract

The doctor’s commitment to inform the patient is considered one of the most important pillars of the medical treatment contract, as the doctor may not carry out therapeutic intervention except after the patient’s informed consent, based on the information that the doctor disclosed to his patient, about his health condition, available treatment methods, and side effects.

      This study aims to answer the following question: To what extent is the adequacy of the legal texts regulating the doctor’s obligation to get the patient informed? This was done by adopting the descriptive analytical approach. The study was divided into two sections: the first dealt with the nature of the commitment to inform, while the second dealt with the stages and content of inform.

      The study concluded that the Jordanian Medical Liability Law did not specify the scope of the doctor’s obligation to inform the patient about the complications that may result from the intervention, the amount of information that the doctor must provide to the patient before starting treatment, in addition to the conflict between some texts related to informing the patient or his family about the effects of the therapeutic intervention.

      The study recommends amending the texts related to informing the patient, by stipulating that the patient or his family be informed, as the case may be, about the possible complications related to the therapeutic intervention, whether the patient agrees to the treatment or not. The study also concluded other results and recommendations.