Consent for anesthesia

Modern anesthesia practice has become technically more challenging. Today’s anesthesiologistis more often involved in administering anesthesia to elderly and sick patients who are having other comorbidities, with their inherent risks. This leads to increased morbidity and mortality. Anesthesiologists are not able to carry out detailed discussions about the proposed procedure with their patients because of work load and time restraints. Hence, they are not able to build up healthy relationship with their patients. Hence, whenever some eventuality takes place, patients and relatives react in a hostile manner. In this situation, if a negligence case goes to the court, then a well-informed anesthesia-specific consent can help an anesthesiologist to prove his or her side during legal proceedings. In this article, consent for anesthesia is reviewed with respect to its three major components – that is, information, decision-makingcapacity, and autonomy of the patient.