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Capacity and Consent in England and Wales: The Mental Capacity Act under Scrutiny

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2010

PETER HERISSONE-KELLY
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Extract

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 came into force in England and Wales in 2007. Its primary purpose is to provide “a statutory framework to empower and protect people who may lack capacity to make some decisions for themselves.” Examples of such people are those with dementia, learning disabilities, mental health problems, and so on. The Act also gives those who currently have capacity a legal framework within which they can make arrangements for a time when they may come to lack it. Toward this end, it allows for them to make advance decisions (in effect, refusals of consent to certain forms of treatment) or to appoint proxy decision makers with lasting powers of attorney.

Type
Special Section: International Voices 2010
Information
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , July 2010 , pp. 344 - 352
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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References

1. Mental Capacity Act 2005—Summary. London: Department for Constitutional Affairs; 2005Google Scholar.

2. See note 1, Mental Capacity Act 2005—Summary. 2005.

3. Mental Capacity Act 2005. London: The Stationery Office; 2005:Part 1, Section 1Google Scholar.

4. See note 2, Mental Capacity Act 2005:Part 1, Section 2.

5. Beauchamp, TL, Childress, JF. Principles of Biomedical Ethics, 6th ed. New York: Oxford University Press; 2009:100Google Scholar.

6. See note 2, Mental Capacity Act 2005:Part 1, Section 4.

7. However, a lucid explanation is provided in Shah A. The paradox of the assessment of capacity under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Philosophy, Psychiatry, Psychology (forthcoming).

8. Shah, A, Heginbotham, C. The Mental Capacity Act: Some implications for black and minority ethnic elders. Age and Ageing 2008;37:242CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed.

9. See note 8, Shah, Heginbotham 2008:242.

10. See note 8, Shah, Heginbotham 2008:243.

11. See note 7, Shah (forthcoming).

12. See note 7, Shah (forthcoming).

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15. See note 13, Lucas (forthcoming).

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18. See note 17, Thornton (forthcoming).

19. See note 17, Thornton (forthcoming).

20. See note 17, Thornton (forthcoming).