Informed Consent: A Poem

Consent; granting permission 

Informed consent; granting permission with complete knowledge and complete understanding 

Granting permission with complete cognition 

Informed consent

______________________________________

I entered this building today

Exhaust and sweat

Excitement and fear

Chaos, controlled chaos

Arriving, leaving, then arriving again

An inexhaustible stream

Blood in and blood out

Sadness and anger 

Hopes and dreams 

Truth and illusions 

Beginning and ending

Never ceasing 

Beginning and ending

I entered this building today

Cold and hazy

Bleak and endless

______________________________________

Informed consent

Consent; granting permission 

Informed consent; granting permission with complete knowledge and complete understanding 

Granting permission with complete cognition 

Informed consent

______________________________________

Lying in this bed

A tangle of tubes and wires

I’m fragile

And I’m frail

Lying in this bed

A tangle of tubes and wires

I’m tender 

And I’m pale 

______________________________________

I lay here

Writhing in pain

Watch you walk towards me

And suddenly,

There’s hope

Watch you walk towards me 

And suddenly,

There’s fear

______________________________________

You come

You speak to me

We don’t talk

You speak to me

You speak to me

In words I don’t comprehend

You speak to me

In a language I don’t understand 

A language, which to me, feels foreign 

I try

I try to make sense of it all

I try and I fail

______________________________________

You hand me a piece of paper

You ask me to sign it

Which I do, almost immediately 

Without thinking twice 

Mostly cuz I just don’t know 

What to think

And what not to

You take the paper back

You thank me 

And you leave

I watch you walk away

And suddenly, 

The hope’s all gone

But the fear, it stays

The fear, it magnifies 

______________________________________

Informed consent

Consent; granting permission 

Informed consent; granting permission with complete knowledge and complete understanding 

Granting permission with complete cognition 

Informed consent

______________________________________

Lying in this bed

A tangle of tubes and wires

I’m fragile

And I’m frail

Lying in this bed

A tangle of tubes and wires

I’m tender 

And I’m pale 

______________________________________

I lay here

Writhing in pain

Watch you walk towards me

And suddenly,

There’s hope

Watch you walk towards me 

And suddenly,

There’s fear

______________________________________

You come to me

You speak to me

You speak to me

And I speak to you

We talk

You make me understand

You make sure that I understand 

Tests and treatment

Risks and recovery 

You make me understand 

You make sure that I understand 

______________________________________

You hand me a piece of paper 

You ask me to sign it

Which I do, almost immediately

Without thinking twice 

Mostly cuz I just don’t have to

Mostly cuz I now know

And I understand 

I understand everything. 

You take the paper back

You thank me

And you leave

I watch you walk away

And suddenly,

The fear’s all gone

But the hope, it stays

The hope, it magnifies 

______________________________________

I’m leaving this building now

Exhaust and sweat

Excitement and fear

Chaos, controlled chaos

Arriving, leaving, then arriving again

An inexhaustible stream

Blood in and blood out

Sadness and anger 

Hopes and dreams 

Truth and illusions 

Beginning and ending

Never ceasing 

Beginning and ending

I’m leaving this building now

Cold and hazy

Bleak and endless

Bleak, on the outside

But brimming with hope

Bristling with hope

On the inside

______________________________________

Informed consent

Consent; granting permission 

Informed consent; granting permission with complete knowledge and complete understanding 

Granting permission with complete cognition 

Informed consent

______________________________________