Which of the following is NOT a required element of informed consent?

Correct answer: A. The cost of the proposed treatment

• A. CORRECT. COST is a matter of financial disclosure and contract. It is ethically important and practically essential, but it is not a legal element of INFORMED CONSENT, which concerns the patient's capacity to make an informed clinical decision about their own body.
• B. This IS required. Reasonable alternatives must be presented, including the consequences of declining treatment altogether.
• C. This IS required. The patient must understand what is proposed and why.
• D. This IS required. Material risks — those a reasonable patient would want to know — together with the expected benefits and the likelihood of success.

Note: The standard elements: diagnosis, nature and purpose of the proposed treatment, material risks, benefits, reasonable alternatives, the consequences of no treatment, and an opportunity to ask questions — given in language the patient understands, by a patient with capacity, voluntarily. In many jurisdictions a treatment plan with fees is a separate signed document.