Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/524bv.pdf
Page Number: 696

524US2

Unit: $U96

[09-15-00 14:39:49] PAGES PGT: OPIN

Cite as: 524 U. S. 624 (1998)

651

Opinion of the Court

to petitioner’s offer to treat respondent in a hospital.
Id.,
at 943, n. 4. Petitioner testiﬁed that he believed hospitals
had safety measures, such as air ﬁltration, ultraviolet lights,
and respirators, which would reduce the risk of HIV trans-
mission. App. 151. Petitioner made no showing, however,
that any area hospital had these safeguards or even that he
had hospital privileges.
Id., at 31. His expert also ad-
mitted the lack of any scientiﬁc basis for the conclusion that
Id.,
these measures would lower the risk of transmission.
at 209. Petitioner failed to present any objective, medical
evidence showing that treating respondent in a hospital
would be safer or more efﬁcient in preventing HIV transmis-
sion than treatment in a well-equipped dental ofﬁce.

We are concerned, however, that the Court of Appeals
might have placed mistaken reliance upon two other sources.
In ruling no triable issue of fact existed on this point, the
Court of Appeals relied on the 1993 CDC Dentistry Guide-
lines and the 1991 American Dental Association Policy on
HIV.
107 F. 3d, at 945–946. This evidence is not deﬁnitive.
As noted earlier, the CDC Guidelines recommended certain
universal precautions which, in CDC’s view, “should reduce
the risk of disease transmission in the dental environment.”
U. S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Public Health
Service, CDC, Recommended Infection-Control Practices
for Dentistry, 41 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Rep.
No. RR–8, p. 1 (May 28, 1993). The Court of Appeals deter-
mined that, “[w]hile the guidelines do not state explicitly
that no further risk-reduction measures are desirable or that
routine dental care for HIV-positive individuals is safe, those
two conclusions seem to be implicit in the guidelines’ detailed
delineation of procedures for ofﬁce treatment of HIV-positive
patients.”
In our view, the Guidelines do
not necessarily contain implicit assumptions conclusive of the
point to be decided. The Guidelines set out CDC’s recom-
mendation that the universal precautions are the best way

107 F. 3d, at 946.