We read with great interest the recent article by Uzbeck et al1 demonstrating increased anxiety in patients following detailed risk disclosure prior to bronchoscopy. This timely well-conducted study engages with the challenging area of informed consent, and the authors eloquently outline the difficulties in balancing patient autonomy and physician desire to minimise patient anxiety but also to avoid litigation. We agree that the small increase in patient anxiety following explicit consent “seems a price worth paying for most patients”. We wish to comment, however, on a couple of …