Question:
When do you sign the consent form for surgery?

I have been in the approval process for about 2 months now. The insurance company wanted me to go head and sign the consent form for the surgery. Is this a good sign? The Dr office told me usually they dont have you sign that until the insurance has approved the surgery.    — TanyaMuncy (posted on July 11, 2009)

July 11, 2009
Hello I have been scheduled for surgery for July 20 and I have not yet gotten my approval for my surgery but I didsign a consent for my last visit. From what I was told the insurance company wants all of these papers submitted to them with all of the paper work for approval so to me that is a good sign that the insurance company wants you to sign it. Good luck and God bless you with you surgery.
   — sjbenji2

July 11, 2009
I signed it at the last office appointment, so it was almost exactly 15 days before my surgery date and approximately a week before insurance approval. Some doctors vary as to whether they have you sign it before or after they submit your package to insurance, but uniformily they should be waiting until after all of your pre-op clearances are done. The reason is because your consent form will vary a little depending on what shows up in the pre-op testing, because in addition to including the general/basic risks associated with the particular type of surgery, they also must include risks that are specific to you and your individual health and those are things usually revealed by your pre-op clearance testing. For example, if you have certain heart problems that can be affected by anesthesia or you are prone to blood clots, that is information that may be revealed in your pre-op testing and they would need to outline the specific risks posed by anesthesia or your propensity to get blood clots on the consent form. As for your particular situation, I would ask the doctor if there is any reason other than waiting on insurance approval that he doesn't want you to sign the consent form, and/or you could have your doctor's office call the insurance company and have them come to an agreement on what should be done. Good luck!
   — ads2e

July 12, 2009
Usually you sign it just before going in to the OR and only AFTER it is explained in full to you, the good and the bad and you feel you have no more questions for the Dr. Good luck to you and don't sign after being medicated with a sedative! :O) Ana Villa, RN
   — nursevilla