diff --git a/api/lib/opentelemetry/trace/tracer.rb b/api/lib/opentelemetry/trace/tracer.rb
index 2e30e87c9b..3739941619 100644
--- a/api/lib/opentelemetry/trace/tracer.rb
+++ b/api/lib/opentelemetry/trace/tracer.rb
@@ -31,12 +31,12 @@ class Tracer
       #
       # @yield [span, context] yields the newly created span and a context containing the
       #   span to the block.
-      def in_span(name, attributes: nil, links: nil, start_timestamp: nil, kind: nil)
+      def in_span(name, attributes: nil, links: nil, start_timestamp: nil, kind: nil, record_exception: true)
         span = nil
         span = start_span(name, attributes: attributes, links: links, start_timestamp: start_timestamp, kind: kind)
         Trace.with_span(span) { |s, c| yield s, c }
       rescue Exception => e # rubocop:disable Lint/RescueException
-        span&.record_exception(e)
+        span&.record_exception(e) if record_exception
         span&.status = Status.error("Unhandled exception of type: #{e.class}")
         raise e
       ensure
diff --git a/sdk/test/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/tracer_test.rb b/sdk/test/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/tracer_test.rb
index 88ae0b5179..cbd11bc1f5 100644
--- a/sdk/test/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/tracer_test.rb
+++ b/sdk/test/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/tracer_test.rb
@@ -330,6 +330,18 @@
       _(span.status.description).must_equal('Unhandled exception of type: RuntimeError')
     end
 
+    it 'does not record an exception if record_exception is false' do
+      span = nil
+      _(proc do
+        tracer.in_span('op', record_exception: false) do |s|
+          span = s
+          raise 'this is fine'
+        end
+      end).must_raise(RuntimeError)
+
+      _(span.events).must_be_nil
+    end
+
     it 'yields a no-op span within an untraced block' do
       tracer.in_span('root') do
         span_id = OpenTelemetry::Trace.current_span.context.span_id