25th March 2010

NEW LEGISLATION NEEDED TO STOP CONFUSION OVER WHO CAN MAKE MEDICAL DECISIONS – INCLUSION IRELAND

Ireland’s lack of modern legislation to decide who can make decisions has repercussion in many areas, including healthcare, says Inclusion Ireland.

At present, medical or surgical procedures cannot be carried out without the informed consent of a patient over 16 years of age. However, the law is not clear on what constitutes informed consent, or what happens if the person is not capable of giving their consent. There is widespread confusion over what happens when the person with a disability or their family members disagree with a doctor, or each other, over what is the best form of treatment. As a result, it is the responsibility of medical professionals to make a final decision. Inclusion Ireland launched a booklet in 2008 providing information on current practice in this area called “Who Decides and How: Making Medical Decisions”.

This problem relates to Ireland’s lack of modern capacity legislation – current law in this area is the Lunacy Act of 1871. New law should ensure there are guidelines and definitions for ‘testing’ capacity for making medical decisions.  The lack of modern legislation can have massive implications for many people with an intellectual disability, older people with dementia and people with mental health problems.

Modern legislation is needed before Ireland can ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. On March 30th 2007, Ireland was among the first countries to sign the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Then Justice Minister Michael McDowell said it would be ratified “as soon as possible”. Three years later we are still waiting.

Article 25 of the Convention says:

“States Parties recognize that persons with disabilities have the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health without discrimination on the basis of disability.”

 

ENDS

 

EVENT: Inclusion Ireland, Amnesty International Ireland and the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Trinity College Dublin are calling on the Government to urgently ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and will hold a joint press conference on this issue on Tuesday 30th March 2010 at 1.30pm in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, D’Olier St., Dublin 2.       

GO TO WEBPAGE OF CAMPAIGN FOR MODERN CAPACITY LEGISLATION & RATIFICATION OF THE UN CONVENTION

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