Literature Review on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible ...

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information that is relevant to the decision and then ‘appreciate
’reasonably foreseeable consequences’. The Health Care Consent Act,
Section. 4 (1) defines capacity as follows:
<strong>Literature</strong> <strong>Review</strong> on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible
Support to People with an Intellectual Disability who are
A person is capable with respect to a treatment ... if the person
Experiencing Crisis Pregnancy
is able to understand the information that is relevant to making
a decision about the treatment … and able to appreciate the
reasonably foreseeable consequences of a decision or lack of
decision.
‘Treatment’ is defined (subject to significant exclusions) as anything that
is done for a therapeutic, preventive, palliative, diagnostic, cosmetic or
other health-related purpose, and includes a course of treatment, plan of
treatment or community treatment plan. Section 11 defines the elements
required for consent to treatment as:
1. must relate to the treatment
2. must be informed
3. must be given voluntarily
4. must not have been obtained though misrepresentation or fraud.
Section 11 (2) states that informed consent requires the person to
have received information that a reasonable person in the same
circumstances would require about:
1. The nature of the treatment
2. The expected benefits of the treatment
3. The material risks of the treatment
4. The material side-effects of the treatment
5. Alternative courses of action
6. The likely consequences of not having the treatment.
Section 11 (2) also states that informed consent requires that the person
has received responses to his or her requests for additional information
about those matters listed above.
The Health Care Consent Act 1996 also contains the principle of
‘presumption of capacity’, with an exception in the case where a person