Informed consent for endoscopy.

The process of informed consent is an ethical and legal mandate. The medical informed consent doctrine enables adult patients to make their own treatment decisions based on adequate disclosure of information by the endoscopist. The physician must disclose to the patient the nature, benefits, risks, and alternatives of the procedure being performed. It is incumbent upon the endoscopist to know the standard of disclosure in his or her jurisdiction. The process of informed consent will strengthen the physician-patient relationship and can be used as a valuable risk management tool.