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Evaluating medico-legal decisional competency criteria

Whiting, Demian

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Abstract

In this paper I get clearer on the considerations that ought to inform the evaluation and development of medico-legal competency criteria-where this is taken to be a question regarding the abilities that ought to be needed for a patient to be found competent in medico-legal contexts. In the "Decisional Competency in Medico-Legal Contexts" section I explore how the question regarding the abilities that ought to be needed for decisional competence is to be interpreted. I begin by considering an interpretation that takes the question to be asking about the abilities needed to satisfy an idealized view of competent decision-making, according to which decisional competency is a matter of possessing those abilities or attributes that are needed to engage in good or effective or, perhaps, substantially autonomous or rational decision-making. The view has some plausibility-it accords with the way decisional competency is understood in a number of everyday contexts-but fails as an interpretation of the question regarding the abilities that should be needed for decisional competence in medico-legal contexts. Nevertheless, consideration of why it is mistaken suggests a more accurate interpretation and points the way in which the question regarding the evaluation of medico-legal competency criteria is to be answered. Building on other scholarly work in the area, I outline in the "Primary and Secondary Requirements" section several requirements that decisional competence criteria ought to satisfy. Then, in the "Applying the Framework" section, I say something about the extent to which medico-legal competency criteria, as well as some models of decisional competency proposed in the academic literature, fulfil those requirements.

Citation

Whiting, D. (2015). Evaluating medico-legal decisional competency criteria. Health care analysis, 23(2), 181-196. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10728-013-0258-z

Journal Article Type Article
Online Publication Date Jun 27, 2013
Publication Date Jun 1, 2015
Deposit Date Nov 13, 2014
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Health care analysis
Electronic ISSN 1573-3394
Publisher Springer Verlag
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 23
Issue 2
Pages 181-196
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s10728-013-0258-z
Keywords Decisional authority, Decisional competency, Idealized views of competency, Law, Medico-legal contexts, Mental Capacity Act 2005, Proportionality, Necessity
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/471636
Publisher URL http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10728-013-0258-z
Additional Information Authors' accepted manuscript of article published in: Health care analysis, 2015, v.23, issue 2

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