# Informed Consent

> A process requiring healthcare providers to disclose the risks, benefits, and alternatives of a treatment so the patient can make a voluntary, knowledgeable decision.

**Category:** Medical Practice
**Canonical URL:** https://drugsmonitor.com/glossary/informed-consent
**Last updated:** 2026-06-11

Informed consent is both an ethical obligation and a legal requirement in medical practice. For prescription drugs, informed consent typically occurs through discussion with the prescribing physician about expected benefits, possible side effects, and alternative treatments.

While the manufacturer's duty to warn runs primarily to the physician (under the learned intermediary doctrine), the physician has a separate duty to obtain the patient's informed consent before prescribing. A failure to obtain informed consent is a separate legal claim.

If a physician prescribed a drug without discussing known risks that later materialized, the patient may have a medical malpractice claim for lack of informed consent in addition to any product liability claim against the manufacturer.

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*Glossary entry from DrugsMonitor.com.*