How should a clinician handle a patient who wishes to withdraw consent during a procedure?

• A. Respect the withdrawal, pause the procedure if feasible, discuss alternatives, and document the patient's decision and the outcome.
• B. Continue the procedure to completion regardless.
• C. Ignore the withdrawal if it is inconvenient.
• D. Punish the patient for changing mind.

Answer: (A)

When a patient wants to withdraw consent during a procedure, the priority is honoring their autonomy and treating consent as an ongoing process. The clinician should acknowledge the patient’s decision, assess that the patient still has decision-making capacity, and pause the procedure if it is safe to do so. Then discuss next steps or alternatives—explaining what continuing or stopping would mean for the patient—and document clearly that consent was withdrawn, what was discussed, and the outcome of that discussion. The patient’s withdrawal should be respected, and there should be no pressure or coercion.

Continuing the procedure regardless would violate the patient’s autonomy, ignoring the withdrawal is unethical and potentially illegal, and punishing the patient for changing their mind is inappropriate and harmful. In urgent life-threatening emergencies where a patient cannot regain capacity quickly and delaying would cause serious harm, different rules may apply, but the standard approach with capacity is to respect the withdrawal, pause, discuss, and document.