Consent to treatment: application to performing arts medicine.

Because treatment outcomes may have an effect on performing artists' livelihood, physicians should involve these patients in the treatment planning phase by obtaining informed consent. Treatment without consent is a battery. Physicians have several available lines of defense against an allegation of failure to obtain informed consent, including reasonable documentation of treatment plan discussions with patients; the "so what!" defense, which states that the patient would have agreed to treatment despite the risks; and the "unduly alarming" defense, which contends that based on past experience with a particular patient, proper disclosure would cause undue emotional distress. Alert compliance with the laws governing consent for treatment and sound medical judgment are every physicians' legal, ethical, and moral duty.