What does patient consent in the medical context entail? To what extent must choices in treatment be outlined and communicated to patients? Framed by law and juxtaposed by a patient lens, this talk will focus on the idea of consent in medical decision making in Canada. Based on a decades-long experience with her own battle with breast cancer, Dr. Adrian argues that informed consent demands intelligible resources that enable patients to understand their context and make more informed choices about their treatment trajectory. Be the Choice, an organization Dr. Adrian co-founded and leads, is dedicated to making breast cancer treatment information accessible and participatory. Be the Choice is one example of a tool that shows how highly complex medical information can be made patient-friendly, thereby supporting patient understanding, choice and informed consent.

 

 

Melanie Adrian is an Associate Professor in the Department of Law and Legal Studies and holds the inaugural Chair of Teaching Innovation at Carleton University. Her Ph.D. is in Social Anthropology and the Study of Religion from Harvard University. Adrian writes and speaks about human rights, integration, minority religious communities – Islam in particular – and religious freedom. Her op-eds have been published in the Globe & Mail and the Ottawa Citizen. A dedicated volunteer, Dr. Adrian is the Executive Director of Be the Choice, an organization revolutionizing decision-making for breast cancer patients. She was named to the Order of Ontario in 2019.

 

 

Be the Choice is a Canadian non-profit organization dedicated to making breast cancer treatment information accessible and participatory. BTC has built an interactive, fully bilingual, double-blind peer reviewed, digital platform that enables patients and their advocates to navigate the labyrinth of clinical terms and pathways that accompany a diagnosis. Be the Choice currently supports 20,000 users since its online launch in 2017.

 

If you would like to learn more about Be the Choice before the session, please consult: www.bethechoice.org