Informed consent is fundamental in the process of care, except in case of urgent, lifesaving treatments. In Italy, the
legal sources are the Italian Constitution, the numerous judgments of the courts and the current \u201cCodice di
Deontologia medica\u201d. In clinical practice, as in the case of the elderly patient with hip fracture, the physician may
encounter problems if the patient is incompetent and without legal representation
