[The Welfare Act and its predictive effects in Public Health Service]

Abstract

The new Care Act will come into force on 1 January 1992. It will abolish guardianship by reason of mental disease, mental deficiency, prodigality, habitual drunkenness and drug addiction as well as guardianship of persons of full age and curatorship of infirm adults. Legal provisions relating to care will take the place of guardianship, and these provisions will no longer have any automatic effect on the affected person's capacity to enter into legal transactions, to marry, or to make a will. Where there is encroachment upon the rights of such persons, there must be strict observance of the principle of necessity. The new law will strengthen personal care. As far as possible, there must be compliance with the wishes of the person under care. As a rule, a natural person should be appointed as curator. The Act has special provisions on important matters relating to the care of persons, for instance on consent in respect of therapeutic treatment, on sterilisation, on committal and on the dissolution of households. The rights of affected persons will be substantially strengthened in standardised proceedings under noncontentious jurisdiction. Expert reports must always be obtained. The expert presenting a report will have to take due account of other aspects in addition to medical matters. Present cases of guardianship and of curatorship will automatically be converted into cases of care under the new law, and they will be reviewed in the light of the latter within certain time limits.