Negotiating consent: patient agency and gynaecological surgery (France and the Netherlands, 1890s-1960s)

This project challenges the view that patients had (almost) no autonomy before the post-war period. It aims to provide a long-term historical perspective on patient agency in negotiations over consent in France and the Netherlands from the 1890s until the 1960s. Gynaecological surgery will serve as the main focus. This was a type of invasive surgery that blossomed around 1890 and for which the omission of consent lead to court cases. By focusing on actual practices of consent and conflicts over consent, this project will extend existing histories of informed consent in which the patient voice has been largely overlooked. It will generate fresh insight into broader shifts in patient agency and into the behaviour of patients in relation to physicians, relatives and other actors.

Keywords:consent, disclosure, patient agency, gynaecological surgery, doctor-patient relationship

Disciplines:Cultural history, European history, Modern and contemporary history, Medical ethics and medical deontology