The first medical informed consent statute - Deseret (1851): The use of laws requiring consent to discourage disfavored medical procedures

In 1851 the Provisional State of Deseret (renamed Utah when it became part of the United States enacted the earliest known law requiring informed consent to health care. This article discusses the law, its context, and its ambiguities. It gives other examples of proposals to use consent laws to discourage disfavored medical procedures, including a 1722 proposal to require written consent to small pox inoculation.