Consent is a fundamental principle of medical law. The basic rule is simple: no-one has the right to touch anyone else without lawful excuse and if doctors do so it may well undermine patients’ trust.
Such behaviour may lead to a clinical negligence claim, a complaint to the GMC or even civil or criminal proceedings for assault. There are three components to valid consent:
Capacity
Information
Voluntariness
"No-one has the right to touch anyone else without lawful excuse and if doctors do so it may well undermine patients’ trust"
