What is it about?
This paper draws attention to the underpinning role of “what the individual needs to know” - (relevant information) in the correct determination of their decisional capacity.
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Why is it important?
What invariably underpins the decision-making process is the information that the individual needs to know and consider sufficiently in order to enable them make a decision (relevant information) and how this information is influenced by the functioning of their mind/brain. Consent given without an individual having processed the information relevant to the decision at hand is arguably invalid. If an assessor wrongly concludes that an individual must be able to understand, retain, use/weigh a piece of information that is not in fact “relevant information”, the individual could be wrongly assessed as having or lacking decisional capacity in respect of a particular matter.
Perspectives
Relevant Information available to an individual and their ability to understand, retain and use/weigh that information as influenced by the functioning of their mind/brain - determines the individual's Decisional Capacity regarding the decision communicated by them. Therefore, getting the relevant information right is essential because the judgment made by the assessor on an individual’s decisional capacity might make the difference between the rights of an otherwise capacitous individual being taken away from them and the making of potentially fatal/catastrophic decisions by an otherwise non-capacitous individual.
Oluwatoyin Sorinmade
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Relevant information and the Mental Capacity Act, Journal of Patient Safety and Risk Management, January 2019, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/2516043518820148.
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