Literature Review on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible ...

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reasonably can to work out what someone’s best interests are the law
should protect them.
These steps include but are not limited to:
• encouraging participation
• identifying all relevant circumstances
• finding out the person’s views
• avoiding discrimination by not making assumptions based on a
person’s age, appearance, condition or behaviour
• assessing whether the person might regain capacity
• consulting others
• avoiding restricting the person’s rights
• taking all these factors into account.
Support to People with an Intellectual Disability who are
Accessible
and Appropriate of Provision on <strong>Review</strong> <strong>Literature</strong>
Experiencing Crisis Pregnancy
(Chapter 5 of the Code of Practice includes guidance on how to carry out
these steps.)
Safeguards
Safeguards are provided in the legislation, i.e. it cannot be decided that
someone lacks capacity based on their age, appearance, condition or
behaviour alone.
Advocacy structure
The Act provides for an Independent Mental Capacity Advocate (IMCA)
service, the aim of which is to provide independent safeguards for people
who lack capacity to make certain important decisions about serious
medical treatment and changes of accommodation and, at the time such
decisions need to be made, have no family or friends that it would be
appropriate to consult. An IMCA may be consulted to support someone
who lacks capacity to make decisions concerning care reviews and adult
protection cases.
2.7.2 Legal capacity in Canada
In Ontario, Canada, the relevant statute in this area is the Health Care
Consent Act 1996, which covers treatment, admission into a long-term
facility, and decisions about personal assistance services. Mental
Capacity is a legal construct and means the ability to firstly ‘understand’