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Some Proposed Suggestions

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Capacity Assessment and the Law

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Abstract

The final chapter draws together the preceding discussion through the proposal of some novel solutions to the identified challenges as a way in which to progress the capacity assessment dialogue. This necessarily starts with the definition of capacity. In order to adequately assess capacity, health and legal professionals must first understand what it is they are assessing and to what standard. The medico-legal relationship needs improvement, supporting not only those being assessed, but also the professionals involved in the assessments, especially for those who undertake assessments on an infrequent basis. The satisfactory assessment of clinical capacity within a legal framework likewise requires education and training, both with and between the professionals involved in conducting the assessments, but also within society more broadly. This is also discussed, as are the general principles which should inform any satisfactory assessment paradigm. Suggestions are then made about the assessment process itself, including the role of health professionals. Ideally, input is needed from all relevant stakeholders in order to develop a best practice paradigm, and so hurdles and hindrances are identified. This should not prevent the progression of the dialogue in this fundamentally important area towards developing best practice standards, especially as capacity assessments, and the problems they present, are only going to increase in the near future.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Kapp M (2015), p. 170.

  2. 2.

    Moye J et al. (2013), p. 167.

  3. 3.

    Falk E and Hoffman N (2014), p. 856.

  4. 4.

    Collier B et al. (2005a), p. 161.

  5. 5.

    See for example: Purser K and Rosenfeld T (2014); Sousa LB et al. (2014).

  6. 6.

    See also for example Kershaw MM and Webber LS (2004).

  7. 7.

    Darzins P et al. (2000), p. 139.

  8. 8.

    Queensland Law Reform Commission (2010), p. 279.

  9. 9.

    Marson D (2016), p. 13.

  10. 10.

    Ibid.

  11. 11.

    Ibid.

  12. 12.

    Bennett H and Hallen P (2005), p. 486.

  13. 13.

    Ibid 485.

  14. 14.

    Ibid 486.

  15. 15.

    Finkel SI (2003), p. 418.

  16. 16.

    Marson DC (2013), p. 386.

  17. 17.

    Ellison S et al. (2004).

  18. 18.

    Law Reform Committee, Parliament of Victoria (2010), p. 131. See also Collier B et al. (eds) (2005b).

  19. 19.

    Parker M and Cartwright C (2005), pp. 88–89.

  20. 20.

    Parker M (2008), p. 34.

  21. 21.

    Cockerill J et al. (2005), p. 55.

  22. 22.

    See Rush University Medical Centre (2016).

  23. 23.

    See, for example, Kennedy KM (2012), p. 193.

  24. 24.

    Monash University and the University of Tasmania (2010), p. 7.

  25. 25.

    Moye J et al. (2013), p. 167; McNeal MH (2013), p. 1083.

  26. 26.

    Moye J et al. (2013), p. 167.

  27. 27.

    Queensland Law Reform Commission (2010), p. 61.

  28. 28.

    See also British Medical Association and the Law Society (2015), p. 11.

  29. 29.

    American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging, American Psychological Association Assessment of Capacity in Older Adults Project Working Group (2005), p. 13.

  30. 30.

    United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities , opened for signature 30 March 2007, (entered into force 3 May 2008).

  31. 31.

    Ruskey-Fleming v Cook [2013] QSC 142; Sharp v Adam [2006] EWCA Civ 449.

  32. 32.

    Moye J et al. (2013), p. 167.

  33. 33.

    Ibid.

  34. 34.

    Ibid.

  35. 35.

    Cockerill J et al. (2005), pp. 39–41.

  36. 36.

    Pinsker DM et al. (2010), p. 338.

  37. 37.

    McNeal MH, (2013), p. 1083.

  38. 38.

    Capacity Assessment Office Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General (2005), II.6.

  39. 39.

    Cockerill J et al. (2005), pp. 38–39. See also Darzins P et al. (2000), p. 16.

  40. 40.

    Capacity Assessment Office Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General (2005), p. II5.

  41. 41.

    Queensland Law Reform Commission (2010), p. 279.

  42. 42.

    Ibid 272.

  43. 43.

    American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging, American Psychological Association Assessment of Capacity in Older Adults Project Working Group (2005).

  44. 44.

    American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging, American Psychological Association and National College of Probate Judges (2006).

  45. 45.

    American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging, American Psychological Association Assessment of Capacity in Older Adults Project Working Group (2008).

  46. 46.

    British Medical Association and the Law Society (2015).

  47. 47.

    Ibid 289.

  48. 48.

    American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging, American Psychological Association Assessment of Capacity in Older Adults Project Working Group (2005), p. v.

  49. 49.

    Ibid 3. See also British Medical Association and the Law Society (2015), pp. 22–24.

  50. 50.

    American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging, American Psychological Association Assessment of Capacity in Older Adults Project Working Group (2005), pp. v–vi.

  51. 51.

    Ibid v.

  52. 52.

    Ibid 14–15.

  53. 53.

    Ibid 15–16.

  54. 54.

    British Medical Association and the Law Society (2015), pp. 23–24, 222.

  55. 55.

    American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging, American Psychological Association Assessment of Capacity in Older Adults Project Working Group (2005), p. vii.

  56. 56.

    Ibid vi–vii, 21.

  57. 57.

    Ibid vii. See also British Medical Association and the Law Society (2015), pp. 52–54.

  58. 58.

    British Medical Association and the Law Society (2015), p. 52–54.

  59. 59.

    American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging, American Psychological Association Assessment of Capacity in Older Adults Project Working Group (2005), p. vii.

  60. 60.

    Ibid.

  61. 61.

    British Medical Association and the Law Society (2015), p. 19.

  62. 62.

    Ibid 23–24; American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging, American Psychological Association Assessment of Capacity in Older Adults Project Working Group (2005), pp. vi, 16–17.

  63. 63.

    American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging, American Psychological Association Assessment of Capacity in Older Adults Project Working Group (2005), p. 13.

  64. 64.

    Ibid vi; British Medical Association and the Law Society (2015), pp. 17–19.

  65. 65.

    British Medical Association and the Law Society (2015), p. 211.

  66. 66.

    American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging, American Psychological Association Assessment of Capacity in Older Adults Project Working Group (2005), vi.

  67. 67.

    Ibid vii.

  68. 68.

    Queensland Law Reform Commission (2010), p. 277.

  69. 69.

    American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging, American Psychological Association Assessment of Capacity in Older Adults Project Working Group (2005), vi.

  70. 70.

    Ibid.

  71. 71.

    Ibid vii.

  72. 72.

    See, for example, Legal Services Commissioner v Ford [2008] LPT 12.

  73. 73.

    (1870) LR 5 QB 549.

  74. 74.

    Pinsker DM et al. (2010), pp. 332, 341.

  75. 75.

    O’Neill N and Peisah C (2011), pp. 8–9.

  76. 76.

    Marson DC (2013), p. 385.

  77. 77.

    Parker M and Cartwright C (2005), p. 89.

  78. 78.

    Bennett H and Hallen P (2005), p. 486.

  79. 79.

    British Medical Association and the Law Society (2015), pp. 132–133.

  80. 80.

    Kapp MB and Mossman D (1996), p. 73.

  81. 81.

    Moye J et al. (2007), p. 592.

  82. 82.

    Bennett H and Hallen P (2005), pp. 201–218.

  83. 83.

    O’Neill N and Peisah C (2011), 1.4. See also Simon v Byford & Ors (Re Rose (Deceased)) [2013] EWHC 1490 (Ch).

  84. 84.

    New South Wales Department of Lands (2009), p. 6.

  85. 85.

    Cockerill J et al. (2005), p. 49.

  86. 86.

    Collier B et al. (2005a), p. 162.

  87. 87.

    Sabatino CP (2011), p. 707.

  88. 88.

    British Medical Association and the Law Society (2015), pp. 17–19.

  89. 89.

    Darzins P et al. (2000), pp. 14–18.

  90. 90.

    Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia (2007), xlvi, xlvii, ch 8.

  91. 91.

    Monash University and the University of Tasmania (2010), p. 7.

  92. 92.

    See The Will Registry (2009).

  93. 93.

    Kapp MB (2002), p. 415.

  94. 94.

    Ibid.

  95. 95.

    Ibid 417.

  96. 96.

    Parker M and Cartwright C (2005), p. 89.

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  1. Faculty of Law, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Kelly Purser

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Purser, K. (2017). Some Proposed Suggestions. In: Capacity Assessment and the Law. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54347-5_7

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