Q&A: Informed Consent

Informed consent is a basic component of communication between medical professionals and patients. True informed consent means you fully understand the procedure, intervention, or treatment, that you are aware of all of the risks and benefits, and you have the choice to opt in or opt out. The guidelines for this are defined by organizations like the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Even though it is a basic tenant of medical care, it isn’t always practiced ideally. There are challenges involved with the time and attention needed to give you true informed consent. As we are seeing a shift to more patient focused practices and a more evidence based approach to care we will hopefully see this become a bigger priority. Until then, this episode gives you some tips in finding the right care provider, how to make sure you are really informed before giving consent for procedures and interventions, and when you know you should switch to a new doctor or midwife.

Show Notes: http://pregnancypodcast.com/informedconsent/

Thank you to Mommy Steps for their support of this episode. Mommy Steps makes insoles specifically for pregnancy. They have insoles for athletic shoes and ones for flats or boots. You can even heat them in your oven and mold them to your own foot to make you more comfortable and to prevent foot issues during pregnancy. Mommy Steps is offering an exclusive discount for listeners of the Pregnancy Podcast. Go to http://pregnancypodcast.com/feet/ and enter the promo code FEET to save 20% off.

Thank you to Zahler for their support of this episode. Zahler makes a high quality prenatal vitamin that has the active form of folate, that I prefer after all of the research I have read on folic acid, plus it has omega 3s and DHA. This is the prenatal vitamin I take and the one I recommend. Zahler is offering an exclusive discount to listeners of the Pregnancy Podcast. To check out the vitamin and find out how you can save 25% when you buy a one month supply on Amazon go to http://pregnancypodcast.com/vitamin/