In her Health Affairs Blog post last fall, Sharon Brownlee lamented how frequently patients agree to treatments that they know little about. In the United States and elsewhere, clinicians have a clear ethical and legal responsibility to obtain informed consent for tests, treatments, and procedures. Too often, however, clinicians fail to describe risks adequately or to present alternatives. This meets neither the letter nor the spirit of the law; yet as long as there is a signature on a form, the adequacy of informed consent is rarely questioned.