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Question 648
Clinical Management → Clinical Practice
Classification
Question
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Therapeutic privilege
Question Stem
An unconscious and confused patient requires treatment, no relatives are available, and the physician acts in the patient’s benefit without obtaining consent. Which exception to consent is described?
Options
A
Intentional relinquishing
B
Emergency waiver by a relative
C
Therapeutic privilege
D
Implied consent
E
Validation
Explanation
therapeutic privilege as an exception where a patient is unconscious or confused, relatives are unavailable, and the physician can act in the patient’s benefit without consent.
Option Validity
A) Intentional relinquishing is a separate exception in which the patient waives consent in circumstances described .
B) This does not define therapeutic privilege as an emergency waiver granted by a relative.
D) Implied consent is inferred from behaviour such as attending a clinic appointment, not from incapacity or confusion.
E) Validation is an element of informed consent involving the written consent process, not this exception.
Further Reading
Saxena MRCOG-1 Basic Sciences — Principles of Clinical Practice, printed p. 2.