INFORMED
CONSENT UPDATE:
A New Pennsylvania Supreme Court Directive
By Bridget E. Montgomery
and Tricia Lontz
Eckert Seamans Cherin
& Mellott, LLC
As PDA has reported to its members,
the Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently
issued a decision that affects dentists in
relation to obtaining informed consent
from patients. The decision, Shinal v.
Toms, 162 A.3d 429 (Pa. 2017) arose in
the context of a medical doctor’s
obligation to obtain informed consent
from a patient. Many other health care
practitioners are affected, however, as
the decision addressed not only the
statute governing informed consent for
physicians, but also Pennsylvania’s common
law governing informed consent generally.
Thus, for any procedure for which dentists
currently are required to obtain informed
consent (e.g., root canals, extractions,
implants), Pennsylvania dentists must
adjust their informed consent practices
to be in compliance with the directives
set forth in Shinal.
Many of you likely have followed the
guidance set forth in the article titled
The Expanding Requirement for Informed
Consent in the Practice of Dentistry, which
was published in the January/February
2002 edition of the Pennsylvania Dental
Journal. The guidance set forth in the
2002 article remains sound, as far as it
goes, but court decisions on informed
consent since the article was published
call for Pennsylvania denti