Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Our journals
    • Clinical Medicine
    • Future Healthcare Journal
  • Subject collections
  • About the RCP
  • Contact us

Clinical Medicine Journal

  • ClinMed Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Ahead of print
    • Archive
  • Author guidance
    • Instructions for authors
    • Submit online
  • About ClinMed
    • Scope
    • Editorial board
    • Policies
    • Information for reviewers
    • Advertising

User menu

  • Log in

Search

  • Advanced search
RCP Journals
Home
  • Log in
  • Home
  • Our journals
    • Clinical Medicine
    • Future Healthcare Journal
  • Subject collections
  • About the RCP
  • Contact us
Advanced

Clinical Medicine Journal

clinmedicine Logo
  • ClinMed Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Ahead of print
    • Archive
  • Author guidance
    • Instructions for authors
    • Submit online
  • About ClinMed
    • Scope
    • Editorial board
    • Policies
    • Information for reviewers
    • Advertising

The assessment of mental capacity

Matthew Hotopf
Download PDF
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7861/clinmedicine.5-6-580
Clin Med November 2005
Matthew Hotopf
King's College London
Roles: Professor of General Hospital Psychiatry
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
Loading

Abstract

Mental capacity is required for an adult to make autonomous treatment choices. This review highlights recent legal and clinical developments in the field. The recent English Mental Capacity Act 2005 is described and compared with mental health legislation. Some of the difficulties of defining mental capacity are then outlined. Recent research regarding mental capacity in general hospital patients is summarised. Such research indicates firstly that capacity can reliably be assessed; secondly, that among general hospital inpatients, approximately one-third may lack capacity; and thirdly, that mental incapacity in this setting is mainly driven by cognitive impairment caused by delirium or dementia. This is contrasted with psychiatric inpatients, where the problem is no more frequent, but mainly relates to psychotic illness. The article finishes with some general guidance as to how to assess mental capacity in the general hospital.

  • assessment
  • delirium
  • dementia
  • law and medicine
  • mental capacity
  • mental disorders
  • mental health law
  • © 2005 Royal College of Physicians
Back to top
Previous articleNext article

Article Tools

Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Citation Tools
The assessment of mental capacity
Matthew Hotopf
Clinical Medicine Nov 2005, 5 (6) 580-584; DOI: 10.7861/clinmedicine.5-6-580

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
The assessment of mental capacity
Matthew Hotopf
Clinical Medicine Nov 2005, 5 (6) 580-584; DOI: 10.7861/clinmedicine.5-6-580
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
  • Info & Metrics

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • The new UK internal medicine curriculum 
  • The Francis Crick Institute
  • ‘Every breath we take: the lifelong impact of air pollution’ – a call for action
Show more Professional Issues

Similar Articles

Navigate this Journal

  • Journal Home
  • Current Issue
  • Ahead of Print
  • Archive

Related Links

  • ClinMed - Home
  • FHJ - Home
clinmedicine Footer Logo
  • Home
  • Journals
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
HighWire Press, Inc.

Follow Us:

  • Follow HighWire Origins on Twitter
  • Visit HighWire Origins on Facebook

Copyright © 2021 by the Royal College of Physicians