PatientConsent

Last updated: 20 Aug 2026

Introduction #

The PatientConsent model represents documented patient consents in Canvas that ensure legal compliance and protect patient rights. Each PatientConsent is linked to a Patient, has a category (which is a PatientConsentCoding), and optionally a rejection reason (which is a PatientConsentRejectionCoding).

Usage #

The PatientConsent model can be used to find all of the patient consents for a given patient and organization:

>>> from canvas_sdk.v1.data import PatientConsent, Patient, Organization
>>> patient_1 = Patient.objects.get(id="aebe4d3f5d18410388dc69c4b5169fc3")
>>> organization_1 = Organization.objects.first()
>>> patient_1_consents = PatientConsent.objects.filter(patient=patient_1, organization=organization_1)
>>> print([consent.category.display for consent in patient_1_consents])
['Surgical Consent Form', 'Telehealth', 'HIPAA']

You can also access a patient’s consents from the Patient model:

>>> from canvas_sdk.v1.data import PatientConsent, Patient
>>> patient_1 = Patient.objects.get(id="aebe4d3f5d18410388dc69c4b5169fc3")
>>> patient_1_consents = patient_1.patient_consent.all()
>>> print([consent.category.display for consent in patient_1_consents])
['Surgical Consent Form', 'Telehealth', 'HIPAA']

And you can also access all of the PatientConsents for a given PatientConsentCoding (aka category):

>>> from canvas_sdk.v1.data import PatientConsentCoding
>>> coding = PatientConsentCoding.objects.get(code='59284-0', system='LOINC')
>>> consents = coding.patient_consent.all()
>>> print([consent.state for consent in consents])
['accepted', 'accepted_via_patient_portal', 'rejected']

Each PatientConsentCoding has a document field containing the URL to the consent template document:

>>> from canvas_sdk.v1.data import PatientConsentCoding
>>> coding = PatientConsentCoding.objects.first()
>>> print(coding.document)
'consent_templates/hipaa_consent.pdf'

Accessing Document Files #

The document_url property returns a presigned S3 URL for securely accessing the blank consent template — the form you send to a patient to collect their consent. The copy the patient signs and returns is a separate record; see Signed consent documents.

from canvas_sdk.v1.data import PatientConsentCoding

consent_coding = PatientConsentCoding.objects.first()

# Returns a presigned S3 URL (valid for 1 hour)
url = consent_coding.document_url

The PatientConsentCoding.document above is the blank template sent to the patient. The signed documents the patient completes and returns are PatientAdministrativeDocument records, reachable from the consent through the documents relation:

from canvas_sdk.v1.data import PatientConsent

consent = PatientConsent.objects.get(id="8a2b1c3d-4e5f-6a7b-8c9d-0e1f2a3b4c5d")

# Every signed document attached to this consent.
signed_documents = consent.documents.all()

# The current signed document (the most recent non-junked one), or None.
current = consent.active_document

Each signed document’s FHIR DocumentReference is reachable through document_references, so a plugin can read the reference (and its related_object) in-process without a FHIR call:

from canvas_sdk.v1.data import PatientConsent

consent = PatientConsent.objects.get(id="8a2b1c3d-4e5f-6a7b-8c9d-0e1f2a3b4c5d")

for reference in consent.document_references:
    url = reference.document_url

Attributes #

PatientConsent #

Field Name	Type
id	UUID
dbid	Integer
patient	Patient
category	PatientConsentCoding
state	PatientConsentStatus
effective_date	DateTime
expired_date	DateTime
rejection_reason	PatientConsentRejectionCoding
originator	CanvasUser
documents	QuerySet[PatientAdministrativeDocument] — the signed consent documents
active_document	PatientAdministrativeDocument (property) — the current signed document, or `None`
document_references	QuerySet[DocumentReference] (property) — references for the signed documents

PatientConsentCoding #

Field Name	Type
dbid	Integer
system	String
version	String
code	String
display	String
user_selected	Boolean
expiration_rule	PatientConsentExpirationRule
is_mandatory	Boolean
is_proof_required	Boolean
show_in_patient_portal	Boolean
summary	String
document	String
document_url	String (property) — presigned S3 URL
patient_consent	QuerySet[PatientConsent]

PatientConsentRejectionCoding #

Field Name	Type
dbid	Integer
system	String
version	String
code	String
display	String
user_selected	Boolean
patient_consents	QuerySet[PatientConsent]

Enumeration types #

PatientConsentStatus #

Value	Label
accepted	Accepted
accepted_via_patient_portal	Accepted Via Patient Portal
rejected	Rejected
rejected_via_patient_portal	Rejected Via Patient Portal

PatientConsentExpirationRule #

Value	Label
never	Never
in_one_year	In one year
end_of_year	End of year