If we are to accept this argument, then the pressing question becomes how to determine and define the risks which are deemed to be standard and acceptable versus those which are believed to exceed and, indeed, outweigh the duty of the health care provider to treat. In order to begin to answer this question, it will be useful to investigate the nature of the choice (and all that goes along with making it) that an individual makes when they decide to enter a particular profession. For instance, how wise is it to assume that at the time of choosing their future profession the HCW was fully aware of the risks involved with such work? Perhaps they were not made aware of the risks until their education and training. Furthermore, if they were aware of, and fully appreciated, the risks prior to deciding on a particular profession, would they have even chosen that profession in the first place? And, finally, how is the SLR to be determined, and which of the infectious diseases would then exceed this SLR? In order to effectively analyze the presumed consent argument it is necessary to have an awareness of the diverse opinions and beliefs of HCWs and, also, to understand their different motives and backgrounds. Additionally, knowledge of what HCWs feel about the risk concept and of how they feel about their duty to treat patients with contagious diseases can also be of great value to educators as they plan their curricula and it can be used by the authorities in charge of health care systems in order to better organize their services. The purpose of this study was to analyze whether or not the third premise grounds the duty to treat, namely, "it is generally assumed that by joining the health care profession physicians have given their consent to be exposed to an increased risk of disease contagion". In order to carry out this analysis, the opinions and beliefs of physicians and dentists regarding the occupational risks of infectious diseases were investigated; and, by extension, the argument that the notion of "presumed consent" may be grounds for supporting the HCWs' duty to treat was also analyzed.