DISCLOSURE AND CONSENT - ANESTHESIA and/or PERIOPERATIVE PAIN MANAGEMENT (ANALGESIA)
You have the right as a patient to be informed about your condition and the recommended anesthesia to be used so that you may make the decision whether or not to receive the anesthesia after being informed of the risks, benefits, and alternatives. This disclosure is an effort to make you better informed so you may give or withhold your consent to the anesthesia/analgesia.
Information about General Anesthesia: A member of the anesthesia care team will visit you before your treatment/procedure to discuss the type of anesthesia you may need and to give you more information about anesthesia. It may become necessary to alter your anesthesia care plan after the discussion. Devices may be applied to your body and placed in your veins and arteries to monitor you during your anesthesia. All forms of anesthesia involve some risk. Minor (not life threatening) risks include nausea, vomiting, and pain where an injection is given. Although rare, severe complications include injury to blood vessels, drug reactions, bleeding, blood clots, loss of sensation or limb function, infection, paralysis, stroke, brain damage, heart attack, and death. General anesthesia involves drugs being injected into the bloodstream or breathed into the lungs. A tube or other device may be inserted into your airway to help you breathe. The anticipated benefit is that you will be totally unconscious and you will not feel pain during the procedure. Additional risks include injury to the teeth, throat, eyes or lungs. In less than 1 case in 1000, patients may be aware of the occurrences during their surgery.