Risk and Uncertainty in Anesthesia

This article discusses risk and uncertainty, both stochastic and epistemic, as it applies to anesthesia. It shows the difficulty in quantifying risk of individual case and the somewhat arbitrary and even incorrect and naive assignment of risk in individual patient care management. Effective and honest communication remains at the core of physician-patient relationship in discussing, evaluating and managing the individual case for optimum outcome as well as patients’ and their families' satisfaction and understanding.