scholarly journals The Mental Capacity Act and mental healthcare in prison: opportunities and challenges

2012 ◽  
Vol 36 (7) ◽  
pp. 241-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Davies ◽  
Claire Dimond
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Healthcare ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Mental Capacity ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
People With Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Capacity Act 2005 ◽  
Mental Capacity Act ◽  
The Uk

SummaryThe UK Mental Health Act 1983 does not apply in prison. The legal framework for the care and treatment of people with mental illness in prison is provided by the Mental Capacity Act 2005. We raise dilemmas about its use. We highlight how assessing best interests and defining harm involves making challenging judgements. How best interests and harm are interpreted has a potentially significant impact on clinical practice within a prison context.

scholarly journals Mental Capacity Act (Northern Ireland) 2016

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 353-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerard Lynch ◽  
Catherine Taggart ◽  
Philip Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Mental Healthcare ◽  
Mental Capacity ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Health And Social Care ◽  
Legislative Framework ◽  
Mental Capacity Act ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Health Legislation

SummaryMental health legislation in Northern Ireland has always been separate from legislation in the rest of the UK; the Mental Health (Northern Ireland) Order (MHO) had been in place since 1986. In common with other jurisdictions, this legislation utilises the presence of mental disorder and risk as criteria for detention and involuntary treatment. The MHO has been replaced by the Mental Capacity Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 (MCA), an example of ‘fusion’ legislation in which impairment of decision-making capacity and best interests are the only criteria to be used when making decisions across health and social care. In this paper, we outline the development of the MCA to date, and discuss its potential to improve mental healthcare by placing the treatment of mental illness within the same legislative framework as physical illnesses.

Best interests provisions in the UK Mental Capacity Act 2005

2012 ◽  
Vol 36 (12) ◽  
pp. 459-462
Author(s):  
Olufunso B. Aribisala
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Mental Capacity ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Reasonable Belief ◽  
Mental Capacity Act 2005 ◽  
Mental Capacity Act ◽  
The Uk

SummaryThe Mental Capacity Act 2005 is a critical statute law for psychiatrists in England and Wales. Its best interests provision is fundamental to substitute decision-making for incapacitated adults. It prescribes a process of and gives structure to substitute decision-making. The participation of the incapacitated adult must be encouraged where practicable. In addition to this, ‘the best interests checklist’ must be applied in every case before a practitioner can arrive at a reasonable belief that the action or decision taken on behalf of an incapacitated adult is in his best interests. Most commentators have shown goodwill towards the workings of the Act and want it to succeed.

The law relating to mental capacity and mental health

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kay Wheat
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Disorder ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Mental Capacity ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Decision Making Capacity ◽  
Mental Capacity Act 2005 ◽  
The Law ◽  
Mental Capacity Act

This chapter will examine two key areas of law relating to medical treatment and care of those with mental disorder. The question of decision-making capacity is important for health care professionals, and other carers and agents dealing with older people. The law relating to this is covered by the Mental Capacity Act 2005 supplemented by previous case law where this is still relevant, and the key aspect of the law is the ability to treat people without capacity in their best interests. However, in the case of some patients, it may be necessary to use the Mental Health Act 1983. This legislation is focussed, not on the capacity of the patient, but upon the effect that a mental disorder can have upon the patient risking damage to their own well-being, or to the well-being of others. The relationship between the two areas is not always clear.

The law in England and Wales on mental health treatment in the community

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jo Beswick ◽  
Michael Gunn
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Treatment ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Mental Capacity ◽  
Community Treatment ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Mentally Disordered ◽  
Mental Capacity Act 2005 ◽  
Mentally Disordered Offender ◽  
Mental Capacity Act

This chapter examines the legal framework for the treatment of the mentally disordered offender in the community in England and Wales. It examines both some of the ideological questions underlying the care of this group and the legal mechanisms within which treatment can be provided. The chapter begins by examining the principle, endorsed by the Mental Capacity Act 2005, that voluntary treatment will usually be the norm, regardless of setting. It then considers exceptions to these norm situations where legally mandated treatment in the community is permitted. In England and Wales, most of these exceptions are to be found in three pieces of legislation: the Mental Health Act 1983, as amended in 2007 to include community treatment orders; the Mental Capacity Act 2005, with its associated Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DOLS); and the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

Mental health law

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Brain Injuries ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Mental Capacity ◽  
Health Law ◽  
Mental Health Law ◽  
People With Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Capacity Act 2005 ◽  
Legal Frameworks ◽  
Mental Capacity Act

This chapter gives an overview of mental health law. Whilst focusing on the legal specifics in England and Wales, the underlying ethical issues extend to all jurisdictions. It explains the duties that law places on health systems and clinicians to support patients to make decisions about their own health. However, it also explains the legal frameworks in place for children and people with mental illness, brain injuries, learning disabilities, dementia, or personality disorder who may require clinicians to decide their health care. Basic concepts of the Mental Health Act 1983, the Mental Capacity Act 2005, and the Children Act 1989 are described, and parts of the law that psychiatrists need to know are presented concisely and in psychiatric context. The chapter includes a practical approach to mental capacity assessment.

The law relating to mental capacity and mental health

2020 ◽  
pp. 907-916
Author(s):  
Kay Wheat
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Disorder ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Mental Capacity ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Decision Making Capacity ◽  
Mental Capacity Act 2005 ◽  
The Law ◽  
Mental Capacity Act ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter examines two key areas of law relating to medical treatment and care of those with mental disorder. The question of decision-making capacity is important for health care professionals, as well as other carers and agents dealing with older people. The law relating to this is covered by the Mental Capacity Act 2005 supplemented by previous case law where this is still relevant, and the key aspect of the law is the ability to treat people without capacity in their best interests. However, in the case of some patients, it may be necessary to use the Mental Health Act 1983. This legislation is focused, not on the capacity of the patient, but upon the effect that a mental disorder can have upon the patient risking damage to their own wellbeing, or to the wellbeing of others. The relationship between the two areas is not always clear.

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

2010 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 344-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETER HERISSONE-KELLY
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Mental Capacity ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Mental Capacity Act 2005 ◽  
Advance Decisions ◽  
Mental Capacity Act

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.

Assessing mental capacity

2021 ◽  
pp. 175573802110316
Author(s):  
Alice Neilson
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Mental Capacity ◽  
Time Dependent ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Mental Capacity Act 2005 ◽  
Mental Capacity Act ◽  
Over Time

Mental capacity is the ability to retain, process, and weigh up information to provide a completely objective decision independent of any cognitive impairment present. Awareness of an individual’s mental capacity is important for all healthcare professionals. Mental capacity and capacity assessments are guided by the legal framework; the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Mental capacity assessments enable practitioners to determine if a patient is able to make reasoned decisions independently, or whether the patient requires assistance in their best interests and are decision and time dependent. Therefore, capacity can fluctuate over time and if someone is deemed to have no capacity on one occasion this does not mean that they should be assumed to consistently lack capacity. The act delivers five key principles to follow in order to determine whether an individual has or lacks mental capacity.

scholarly journals Safeguards for informal patients

2014 ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
Aswini Weereratne
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Disorder ◽  
Residential Care ◽  
Elderly Person ◽  
Mental Capacity ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
Mental Capacity Act 2005 ◽  
Mental Capacity Act

<p>In light of the plethora of new provisions safeguarding patients who might previously have been cared for and treated informally, it may be instructive to consider who may now be considered a truly informal patient, i.e. one for whom neither process nor formality is needed. When applied to an incapacitated<br />patient requiring treatment for mental disorder, the word “informal” may now seem oxymoronic and possibly redundant. Can such a patient ever be truly informal? Part IV of the model statute suggests that an informal patient is one who lacks capacity and does not object to proposed treatment which is in their best interests, or a patient who may be treated without the use of compulsory powers; but even such a patient must now be subject to some formality if their care or treatment is to be long term or they are to be deprived of their liberty in order to ensure proper safeguards are in place.</p><p>Currently the boundary between the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (“MCA”) and Mental Health Act 1983 (“MHA”) is essentially one determined by whether the patient objects to treatment and is defined with formidable complexity in schedule 1A to the MCA. A patient eligible for MCA deprivation of liberty (“DOL”) safeguards, who could be an elderly person in long term residential care, is now subject to formal<br />processes. There is little true informality for a patient lacking treatment capacity. It is questionable whether even a capacitated patient with mental disorder, who is by definition vulnerable, may be treated informally under the MHA4 if they feel suborned into consenting by the possibility of coercion. The terminology offers a slightly deceptive impression of a benign approach with concomitant levels of<br />autonomy, but while it is appropriate to highlight a difference from compulsory process and keep formality to a minimum for the sake of informality, it is also important not to overplay formality in the name of safeguards. The latter appears to be the vice in which the MCA and MHA is now arguably gripped.</p>

Mental capacity and decision-making

2020 ◽  
pp. 823-840
Author(s):  
Charlotte Emmett ◽  
Julian C Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Mental Capacity ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Disability Rights ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Disability Rights Movement ◽  
Mental Capacity Act 2005 ◽  
Mental Capacity Act ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Legal Consequences

This chapter takes the reader through the elements that make up mental capacity and underpin, therefore, decision-making. The provisions of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) are considered in some detail, but the laws governing other jurisdictions in the UK are mentioned. It discusses the legal consequences of incapacity, both for the older person concerned and others, are considered and broader principles (e.g. to do with best interests) governing the use of restraint, deprivation of liberty, and support for decision making. Finally, we turn our attention to how international human rights legislation, and the international disability rights movement generally, increasingly shape the legal approach to capacity and decision making in the UK. The chapter ends, therefore, by considering the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the compatibility of the MCA with its provisions.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document