Wear develops an efficient and flexible model of informed consent that accommodates both clinical realities and legal and ethical imperatives. In this second edition, he has expanded his examination of the larger process within which informed consent takes place and his discussion of the clinician's need for a wide range of discretion.

Stephen Wear is a clinical associate professor in the Departments of Medicine, Obstetrics-Gynecology, and Philosophy, and co-director of the Center for Clinical Ethics and Humanities in Health Care, all at the State University of New York at Buffalo.