Assessing the ability to give informed consent to medical and dental procedures

ISSN： 1469-9532

Source： Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability, Vol.17, Iss.1, 1991-01, pp. : 35-47

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Abstract

Legislation has been introduced in states of Australia to claify who may give consent to medical and dental treatments on behalf of adults who are unable to make effective decisions because of a mental disability. In South Australia, a Guardianship Board has been given the responsibilities both to assess ability to consent, and to identify delegates who are authorised to consent on behalf of people unable to make valid decisions. This study aimed to clarify relations between various estimates of ability to give valid consent. The study examined relations between assessments of ability to consent made by the Guardianship Board and assessments made using six other measures of ability to consent. The best single predictor of assessments by the Guardianship Board was a Consent Questionnaire, which was based on a legal definition of ability to give informed consent and used the concepts of alternative actions and their likely consequences.