[The legal obligation for postoperative pain therapy]

Postoperative pain therapy, i.e., the symptomatic treatment of acute post-surgical pain, is an interdisciplinary obligation of the anaesthesiologist and managing surgeon toward the patient. The failure to provide appropriate pain therapy, in particular withholding analgesic agents, can be regarded as malpractice and result in civil, criminal, and professional legal consequences. As with other medical treatments, the patient must be adequately informed about pertinent details prior to the use of pain therapy, particularly in regard to specific risks and feasible alternative measures. All pain therapy employed must be duly recorded.