Refusal of medical treatment: assessing the required capacity

The right to undertake or refuse medical treatment presupposes a capacity to do so. Every adult is presumed to have that capacity, but it is a presumption that can be rebutted. Some patients may not possess the necessary capacity due to their mental illness or retarded development or simply because...

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Main Author: Jahn Kassim, Puteri Nemie
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: LexisNexis Sdn Bhd 2007
Subjects:
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/3412/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/3412/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/3412/1/refusal_medical_treatment.pdf
id iium-3412
recordtype eprints
spelling iium-34122011-10-13T08:11:28Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/3412/ Refusal of medical treatment: assessing the required capacity Jahn Kassim, Puteri Nemie K Law (General) R Medicine (General) The right to undertake or refuse medical treatment presupposes a capacity to do so. Every adult is presumed to have that capacity, but it is a presumption that can be rebutted. Some patients may not possess the necessary capacity due to their mental illness or retarded development or simply because they are under the age of majority. Problem usually arises with patients who have the necessary capacity but may be deprived of it or have it reduced by reason of temporary factors, such as unconsciousness, confusion or other effects of shock, severe fatigue, pain or drugs being used in their treatment. Medical professionals faced with a refusal of consent have to give very careful and detailed consideration to the patient’s capacity to decide at the time when the decision was made. It may not be the simple case of the patient having no capacity but the more difficult case of a temporarily reduced capacity at the time when the decision was made, particularly, in relation to pregnant women and persons bound by certain religious beliefs. LexisNexis Sdn Bhd 2007 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/3412/1/refusal_medical_treatment.pdf Jahn Kassim, Puteri Nemie (2007) Refusal of medical treatment: assessing the required capacity. Malayan Law Journal, 4. cxlv-clvi. ISSN 0025-1283 http://w3.nexis.com/sources/scripts/info.pl?153134
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Local University
institution International Islamic University Malaysia
building IIUM Repository
collection Online Access
language English
topic K Law (General)
R Medicine (General)
spellingShingle K Law (General)
R Medicine (General)
Jahn Kassim, Puteri Nemie
Refusal of medical treatment: assessing the required capacity
description The right to undertake or refuse medical treatment presupposes a capacity to do so. Every adult is presumed to have that capacity, but it is a presumption that can be rebutted. Some patients may not possess the necessary capacity due to their mental illness or retarded development or simply because they are under the age of majority. Problem usually arises with patients who have the necessary capacity but may be deprived of it or have it reduced by reason of temporary factors, such as unconsciousness, confusion or other effects of shock, severe fatigue, pain or drugs being used in their treatment. Medical professionals faced with a refusal of consent have to give very careful and detailed consideration to the patient’s capacity to decide at the time when the decision was made. It may not be the simple case of the patient having no capacity but the more difficult case of a temporarily reduced capacity at the time when the decision was made, particularly, in relation to pregnant women and persons bound by certain religious beliefs.
format Article
author Jahn Kassim, Puteri Nemie
author_facet Jahn Kassim, Puteri Nemie
author_sort Jahn Kassim, Puteri Nemie
title Refusal of medical treatment: assessing the required capacity
title_short Refusal of medical treatment: assessing the required capacity
title_full Refusal of medical treatment: assessing the required capacity
title_fullStr Refusal of medical treatment: assessing the required capacity
title_full_unstemmed Refusal of medical treatment: assessing the required capacity
title_sort refusal of medical treatment: assessing the required capacity
publisher LexisNexis Sdn Bhd
publishDate 2007
url http://irep.iium.edu.my/3412/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/3412/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/3412/1/refusal_medical_treatment.pdf
first_indexed 2023-09-18T20:11:14Z
last_indexed 2023-09-18T20:11:14Z
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