Prior consent of the patient is needed for all diagnostic and treatment procedures, with the exception of those considered necessary for treatment of a life-threatening emergency in a comatose patient.
In dentistry, such consent is more often implied than formally obtained although written consent is generally considered necessary for all surgical procedures (however minor), for the administration of general anesthetics, and for the majority of clinical research procedures.
Consent of the patient is often required before clinical records are transmitted to another dental office or institution. Many communities also have specific laws that discourage discrimination against individuals infected with HIV
by requiring specific written consent from the patient before any HIVrelated testing can be carried out and before any HIV-related information can be released to insurance companies, other practitioners, family members, and fellow workers. Dentists treating patients whom they believe may be infected with HIV must therefore be cognizant of local law and custom when they request HIV-related information from a patient’s physician, and they must establish procedures in their own offices to protect this information from unauthorized release. In response to requests for the release of psychiatric records or HIV-related information, hospital medical record departments commonly supply the practitioner with the necessary additional forms for the patient to sign before the records are released. Psychiatric information that is released is usually restricted to the patient’s diagnoses and medications.