Bioethics & Talking About Surgery

What’s wrong with informed consent? In “Bioethics & Talking About Surgery,” Gretchen Schwarze, MD, describes her research on communication between surgeons and patients. The traditional informed consent process leads to an emphasis on the details of the disease or treatment, rather than the experience of the surgery or how it can improve patients’ lives. Supported by a Making a Difference grant, she has developed an approach called Better Conversations that empowers patients to make more informed decisions about whether surgery is worth it to them.