If your Thrive Rx clinician recommends an off-label or compounded medication, you'll be asked to provide informed consent before treatment begins. Here's what that means and why it matters.
What Is Informed Consent?
Informed consent is the process of ensuring you understand a proposed treatment — including its purpose, benefits, risks, and alternatives — before you agree to proceed. It's a fundamental principle of medical ethics and patient rights in Australia.
Informed consent is not just a form to sign. It's a conversation between you and your clinician, designed to make sure you have all the information you need to make a decision that's right for you.
What Is Off-Label Prescribing?
Off-label prescribing means using a registered medication for a purpose, dose, or patient group that isn't included in its TGA-approved product information. This is a common and legally permitted practice in Australian medicine when a clinician determines that the evidence supports its use for a particular patient.
Your clinician will explain why an off-label approach is being recommended and what evidence supports its use in your case.
What Your Clinician Will Explain
Before asking for your consent, your clinician will ensure you understand:
What the medication is — The type of medication and how it works.
Why it's being recommended — The clinical rationale based on your pathology, symptoms, and goals.
Whether it's off-label or compounded — And what that means in practical terms.
Expected benefits — What the treatment aims to achieve, without guarantees of specific outcomes.
Potential risks and side effects — Known risks, common side effects, and any rare but serious adverse effects.
Alternatives — Other treatment options that may be available, including non-pharmacological approaches.
Monitoring plan — How your response to the medication will be tracked through follow-up questionnaires, clinical reviews, and repeat pathology.
Cost — The expected cost of the medication, which is separate from your membership fee.
Your right to decline — You are never obligated to proceed with any treatment. Declining does not affect your membership or your clinical relationship.
The Consent Process
After your clinician has explained the treatment, you'll be asked to confirm your consent.
You can take time to consider your decision. If you'd like to think about it before consenting, that's perfectly fine — let your clinician know and they can follow up with you.
Withdrawing Consent
Consent is not permanent. You have the right to withdraw consent and discontinue treatment at any time. If you decide to stop, inform your clinician so they can advise on the safest way to do so (some medications require gradual tapering rather than abrupt cessation).
Why This Matters
Informed consent exists to protect you. It ensures that every treatment decision is made collaboratively, with full transparency, and with your autonomy respected. At Thrive Rx, we consider informed consent a cornerstone of safe, ethical clinical practice.
Thrive Rx provides clinician-led health optimisation services. All clinical decisions are made by AHPRA-registered practitioners. Thrive Rx does not provide emergency medical care. If you are experiencing a medical emergency, call 000 immediately.