I’m a university student in Dodoma. Last month, I fainted during a football match and was rushed to a nearby hospital. When I woke up, I learned that the doctors had performed a minor surgical procedure to stop internal bleeding. I was shocked because I had never signed a consent form or spoken to anyone. How could they operate on me without my permission? Isn’t that a violation of my rights? Please enlighten me.

KN, Dodoma

The doctors may have saved your life, but it seems you are still not satisfied.

Your experience is deeply personal, and it raises an important legal question regarding the nature of consent in medical emergencies. What happened to you falls under a legal doctrine known as ‘implied consent by necessity.’ In situations where a patient is unconscious, incapacitated, or otherwise unable to give informed consent, and where immediate medical intervention is necessary to prevent serious harm or death, the law assumes that a reasonable person would consent to treatment. This assumption allows healthcare providers to act swiftly without waiting for formal authorisation.

Under Tanzanian law and medical ethics, the doctrine of implied consent is recognised in emergencies. The key conditions are urgency (where delay would risk serious harm or death), incapacity (where the patient cannot give informed consent), and the absence of a surrogate decision-maker (such as a guardian or next of kin). However, once you regain consciousness, any further treatment would require your explicit consent. Your lawyer can guide you further on this.