Roger,
I've work off the same assumption as you do when someone brings their significant other into the exam room with them. To me that is consent. I had one issue once where a patient got upset that I talked about an issue that she didn't want her partner to know about (and that's what the visit was about). While I understood she was upset, I pointed out to her that if she didn't want her boyfriend to know than why did she bring him to the appointment to discuss the results?
