In accordance with this section, the medical director of a state hospital with programs for developmentally disabled patients, as defined in Section 4512, may give consent to medical, dental, and surgical treatment of a minor developmentally disabled patient of the hospital and provide for such treatment to be given to the patient.

If the patient’s parent, guardian, or conservator legally authorized to consent to such treatment, does not respond within a reasonable time to the request of the medical director for the granting or denying of consent for such treatment, the medical director may consent, on behalf of the patient, to such treatment and provide for such treatment to be given to the patient.

If the patient has no parent, guardian, or conservator legally authorized to consent to medical, dental, or surgical treatment on behalf of the patient, the medical director may consent to such treatment on behalf of the patient and provide for such treatment to be given to the patient. The medical director may immediately thereupon also request the appropriate regional center for the developmentally disabled to initiate or cause to be initiated proceedings for the appointment of a guardian or conservator legally authorized to consent to medical, dental, or surgical treatment.

If the patient is an adult and has no conservator, consent to treatment may be given by someone other than the patient on the patient’s behalf only if the patient is mentally incapable of giving his own consent.

(Amended by Stats. 1979, Ch. 730.)