Informed consent is a medico-legal process wherein healthcare providers attempt to explain the possible risks of a given treatment and the patient assents to receiving the treatment nothwithstanding the expressed risks. Informed consent doesn't exculpate healtcare providers from potential medical malpractice claims but does serve as a vehicle for arguing that a bad medical outcome was forseeable to the patient.
The requirements under Maryland law are outlined in the Maryland Pattern Jury Instructions at 27:4 and "material risks" or "dangers" must be disclosed.
As one can imagine, material risks and dangers are often not completely imagined or described but despite this informed consent has not yet served as the sole basis for a substantial reported verdict in Maryland.
