Consent to Medical Treatment: The Complex Interplay of Patients, Families, and Physicians.

The article throws light on the different approaches to informed consent and truth telling in the U.S., Hong Kong and mainland China. There appear to be some interesting similarities. Each of these approaches finds some place for family authority and direction by the physician. Each incorporates some form of therapeutic privilege for the physician. Each attempts to protect the interest of the patient. These similarities, however, are overwhelmed by quite distinct approaches to the appropriate role to be played by patients. their families, and physicians in medical decision-making. In addition, these approaches are set within quite different cultural and moral assumptions.