Anesthesia Providers are Obligated to Give Patients the Alternatives to General Anesthesia when Obtaining Informed Consent

Informed consent is a critical part of the pre-anesthetic interview and physician-patient relationship. Informed consent should include the nature of the anesthetic plan, the material risks and benefits, as well as the alternatives to the plan. A recent study indicated that even though systematic informed consent is required and performed by providers, patient comprehension is still lacking.1 Furthermore adequate training in the principles of informed consent is needed in the early stages of residency training.2 In this editorial, we will discuss an important legal case involving an anesthesiologist in order to discuss the legal requirements of informed consent, strategies to improve the physician-patient relationship, and avoid litigation