Informed consent: its legal history and impact on medicine.

The doctrine of informed consent dictates that a physician has a legal duty to disclose to a patient sufficient information regarding the inherent risks and benefits of a proposed course of treatment, and alternatives to the proposed treatment so the patient can intelligently exercise his or her judgment about whether to undergo that treatment. The development of the law regarding informed consent both nationally and in Hawaii is examined along with the current status of the law and its potential impact on physician behavior and health care delivery in Hawaii.