The court must be convinced that the consent was genuine. Consideration is given to the wording of the form, explanations given, mental capacity and surrounding circumstances. Implicit n A patient may consent implicitly by participation and demeanour. Patients may be held to have consented implicitly to subordinate tests or procedures that are necessarily incidental to the expressly agreed treatment. This implied consent will be negated if the patient objects.
Time is of the essence to preserve the patient s health or life.
In the circumstances a reasonable person would consent and the patient probably would. At common law, therapeutic privilege was recognised at law to allow a health professional to withhold information if disclosure would undermine the patient s morale or discourage resort to needed medical treatment.