Traumatic Brain Injury with Personality Change: a Challenge to Mental Capacity Law in England and Wales

Whiting, Demian

Abstract

It is well documented that people with moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) can undergo personality changes, including becoming more impulsive in terms of how they behave. Legal guidance and academic commentary support the view that impulsiveness can render someone decisionally incompetent as defined by English and Welsh law. However, impulsiveness is a trait found within the healthy population. Arguably, impulsiveness is also a trait that gives rise to behaviours that should normally be tolerated even when they cause harm to the person enacting the behaviours. The purpose of this paper is to show why both of these considerations present as significant challenges to the law in England and Wales.

Citation

Whiting, D. (2020). Traumatic Brain Injury with Personality Change: a Challenge to Mental Capacity Law in England and Wales. Psychological Injury and Law, 13(1), 11-18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12207-019-09366-6

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 22, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Dec 5, 2019
• Publication Date: 2020-03
• Deposit Date: Sep 28, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 19, 2020
• Journal: Psychological Injury and Law
• Print ISSN: 1938-971X
• Electronic ISSN: 1938-9728
• Publisher: Springer (part of Springer Nature)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 11-18
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12207-019-09366-6
• Keywords: Mental capacity; Traumatic brain injury; Personality change; Impulsivity; Deliberation; Sovereignty rights
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/3457893
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12207-019-09366-6
• Additional Information: Received: 10 September 2019; Accepted: 22 October 2019; First Online: 5 December 2019