Consent And Capacity Flashcards
Humans Right act 1998
Convention rights
-right to life
-Freedom from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment
-freedom from slavery and forced labour
-right to liberty and security
Liberty (freedom of rights)
-all public bodies must respect and protect human rights
-the standards expected of healthcare professionals by their regulatory bodies may at times be higher than the minimum required by the law.
Mental capacity act 2005
- came into force October 2007
-making decisions for people who lack the capacity to make such decisions themselves
-sets out the legal requirements for assessing wheather or not a person lacks the capacity to make a decision
-where a person lacks this capacity, any decisions made must be on that persons best interests
-code of practice focuses on those who have a duty of care to someone who lack practice to agree to the care that is being provided
What is the difference between ethics and moral
-Ethics refer to principles of good or bad that are generally agreed upon by a community whereas morals refers to individuals sense of right and wrong
- different individuals can different morals.
A person lacks capacity if…
- impairment or disturbance that affects the way the mind or brain works which makes them unable to make a specific decision at the time it needs to be made
E.g disability , condition of trauma , effect of drugs or alcohol
-people may have capacity to consent to some interventions but not to others, or may have capacity at some times but not others.
-Under the mental capacity act , a person must be assumed to have capacity unless it established that they lack capacity
‘Lasting power of attorney’ ?
Individual legally authorised to make decisions on behalf of someone
What is consent
Consent is a Legal and ethical principle that valid consent must be obtained before starting treatment or physical investigation or providing personal care a for a person
Reflects the right of patients to determine what happens to their own bodies
What happens when a professional does not take valid consent
A professional who doesn’t respect this principle may be liable both to legal action by the patient and to action by their professional body.
Reported because it is a legal obligation to take consent for any type of care/interaction
What happens to a professional if they fail to take proper consent and their patient is subsequently harmed as a result of treatment?
Claim of negligence against the professional involved
If a patient makes the decisions to refuse treatment that will cause consequences such as death
If The patient STILL has the capacity to make decisions about treatment they can sill refuse the treatment even if it leads to death
Valid consent
Given voluntarily by an informed person who has the capacity to consent to the intervention in question
This will be from the patient themselves or someone with parental responsibility for a patient under the age of 18 or someone authorised to do so under a Lasting power of attorney (LPA) or someone who has the authority to make treatment decision as court appointed deputy.
The person should consent every time
What is Acquiescence ?
Reluctant acceptance
Where the person doesn’t know what the intervention entails but accepts anyway
This is not ‘consent’
3 types of consent
Verbal -e.g Yes I agree to this X-ray
Written - signed consent form
Implied - holding arm out for a Blood test
Implied consent
Neither verbal or written consist
consent that is not given explicitly, but which can be inferred based on the individual’s actions and the facts of a particular situation
Consent in placement
Informed consent
-informing patient about procedure whilst taking them from the patient waiting room into the X-ray department
When should consent be taken
Recieved by the person undertaking the procedure
