Choolani M, Biswas A
Correspondence: A/Prof Mahesh
Choolani, mahesh_a_choolani@nuhs.edu.sg
ABSTRACT
Each of us perceives risk
differently, and so do our patients. This perception of risk gets even more
complex when multiple individuals and interactions are involved: the doctor,
the patient-pregnant mother, the spouse-father and the foetus-unborn child. In
this review, we address the relationship between different levels of
information gathering, from clinical data to experiential knowledge – data,
information, knowledge, perception, attitude, wisdom – and how these would
impact the perception of risk and informed consent.
We discuss how patients might
interpret the risks of the same event differently based upon past experiences,
and suggest how risk data could be presented more meaningfully for patients and
family to assimilate for informed decision making.
Finally, we demonstrate how
patients’ expectations and risk management can impact scientific research and
clinical progress by way of the most topical subject of risk screening in
pregnancy – non-invasive prenatal testing using cell-free DNA in maternal
plasma.
Keywords: cell-free
foetal DNA, heuristics in medicine, informed consent, non-invasive prenatal
testing, perception of risk
Singapore Med J 2012; 53(10):
633–637
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