Making decisions for incapable adults. 2: Advanced decisions refusing care

Abstract

In the second article focussing on the provisions of the new Mental Capacity Act 2005, Richard Griffith considers the impact on district nurse practice of advanced decisions refusing health care, that will allow a person to refuse even life-sustaining treatment in incapacity, and lasting powers of attorney, that will allow a person to appoint one or more people to make decisions concerning their personal welfare and property and affairs. For the first time in England and Wales a person will be able to appoint another to make consent-to-treatment decisions on their behalf that will be binding on district nurses and other health professionals.