Literature Review on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible ...

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• In relation to capacity to consent to medical treatment, it has
been recognised that contraceptive treatment should be treated
in the same way as all other medical procedures, i.e. be subject
to the same rules that apply for medical treatments in general
(Namhi, 2003).
Support to People with an Intellectual Disability who are
Accessible
and Appropriate of Provision on <strong>Review</strong> <strong>Literature</strong>
Experiencing Crisis Pregnancy
• If the question of routine or minor procedures arises, then efforts
should be made to ascertain if the person has capacity to decide.
There is provision for informal decision-making for health care
and treatment in the Scheme of Mental Capacity Bill, 2008. The
High Court has exclusive jurisdiction to determine any issues
concerning a non-therapeutic sterilisation in the case of a person
who lacks decision-making capacity.
Legislation governing capacity
• Within the Scheme of Mental Capacity Bill 2008 capacity
is defined as ‘the ability to understand the nature and
consequences of a decision in the context of available choices at
the time the decision is to be made’. [51]
• The draft Bill reflects the international move towards a functional
approach to capacity where a person lacks the capacity to make
a decision if she/he is unable to:
- Understand the information relevant to the decision;
- Retain that information;
- Use or weigh that information as part of the process of
making the decision;
- Communicate her/his decision.
• Informal decision-making is provided for in the draft Bill, which
gives medical practitioners and others who perform an act in
connection with the care or treatment of another person whose
decision-making capacity is in doubt, immunity from liability
if they comply with the conditions in the draft legislation when
treating patients.
51 Head 2(1).