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£46.00
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14 December 2009
Law Society Publishing
9781853287787
Paperback
234 x 156 mm
312 pages
Assessment of Mental Capacity
A Practical Guide for Doctors and Lawyers, 3rd edition
Overview
This is the print of Assessment of Mental Capacity, 3rd Edition. The eBook version (EPUB) of Assessment of Mental Capacity, 3rd Edition is also available.
The Law Society and British Medical Association have produced a new edition of their practical guidelines on the assessment of mental capacity for all professionals working with people who lack, or who may lack, capacity to make decisions.
Written by experts from a variety of disciplines, this book combines a precise statement of the law with a practical, jargon-free approach to provide guidelines on a range of issues, from capacity to form intimate personal relationships to capacity to consent to medical treatment. Assessment of Mental Capacity has been comprehensively revised to take account of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, the Code of Practice, and recent decisions by the courts. This third edition also:
- outlines the principles and concepts underpinning the Act
- explains the statutory definition of mental capacity
- examines the tests of capacity governed by the Act and outside the scope of the Act which apply to various decisions and activities
- discusses how the courts have interpreted issues relating to capacity
- reviews the available guidance for the health and legal professions
- aids communication and common understanding between professions.
It will provide an indispensable tool for the health and legal professions and an essential source of guidelines and information, including extracts from the Act and the Code of Practice.
Reviews
"Each section is practical and jargon-free, with illuminating caselaw wherever relevant...This book reads well and it is definitely fit for purpose."
British Journal of Hospital Medicine
"An accurate and helpful guide...mental health units or organisations would benefit from having a copy of this book to hand."
Journal of Mental Health
'This up-date is long overdue, and will prove to be a welcome addition to the bookshelves of not only doctors and lawyers, but also those social workers, psychologists, nurses, occupational therapists and others whose work requires them to assess capacity and make 'best interests' decisions.'
Journal of Mental Health Law
Contents
Part I - Introduction: 1. The law, practice, and this book;
2. Professional and ethical issues;
Part II - Legal Principles:
3. The Mental Capacity Act 2005: capacity and best interests;
4. The legal principles: capacity and evidence;
Part III - Legal Tests of Capacity:
5. Capacity to deal with financial affairs;
6. Capacity to make a will;
7. Capacity to make a gift;
8. Capacity to litigate;
9. Capacity to enter into a contract;
10. Capacity to vote;
11. Capacity and personal relationships;
12. Capacity to consent: the criminal law and sexual offences;
13. Capacity to consent to and refuse medical treatment and procedures;
14. Capacity to consent to research and innovative treatment;
15. Capacity and the deprivation of liberty;
Part IV - Practical Aspects of the Assessment of Capacity:
16. Practical guidelines for doctors;
17. Practical guidelines for lawyers;
Appendix: A. Mental Capacity Act 2005, ss.1-6 (as amended by Mental Health Act 2007);
B. Mental Capacity Act 2005: Code of Practice, chapters 2-4;
C. Court of Protection;
D. Court of Protection Practice Direction 9E: Applications relating to serious medical treatment;
E. The Official Solicitor; F. Certificate as to capacity to conduct proceedings (Official Solicitor);
G. COP3 Assessment of Capacity and Guidance Notes;
H. Sample letter to a GP requesting evidence of testamentary capacity;
I. Addresses;
J. Further reading.
About the Authors
The British Medical Association is a membership organisation that looks after the professional and personal needs of doctors practising in all branches of medicine in the UK. Its Medical Ethics Committee debates medical ethics, medical law, and the relationship between the medical profession, the public and the state. The BMA's Medical Ethics Department answers ethical enquiries from doctors and publishes guidance on a wide range of issues, including: consent, confidentiality and treatment of incapacitated adults.
The Law Society is a membership organisation that represents solicitors qualified in England and Wales practising both at home and internationally. The Society protects and promotes the interests of the profession by providing advice, training, products and services to its members; developing new legal markets; and influencing law and policy through representation activities. The Society's Mental Health and Disability Committee reviews and promotes improvements in law, and practice and procedure affecting elderly people and those with mental or physical disabilities.
Penny Letts is an independent policy consultant and trainer specialising in mental health, mental capacity and disability law. She was Law Society Policy Advisor on Mental Health and Disability matters from 1987-2001, a member of the Mental Health Act Commission from 1995-2004, and Specialist Advisor to the Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Committee on the Mental Capacity Bill in 2002-03. Penny has written widely on mental health and mental capacity issues including: a substantial part of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 Code of Practice and the Making Decisions series of booklets (DCA). She is also a contributor to the Elderly Client Handbook (Law Society, 2004), Mental Capacity: The new law (Jordans, 2006) and Court of Protection Practice 2009 (Jordans, 2009).