In response to Zhong et al, A pragmatist’s guide to the assessment of decision-making capacity, published in The British Journal of Psychiatry, Volume 214, Issue 4 April 2019, Nuala Kane, Alex Ruck Keene, and Gareth Owen write: Avoiding hard capacity assessments will not help “We read with interest Zhong et al’s editorial outlining a ‘pragmatist’s guide’
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Avoiding hard capacity assessments will not help
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Taking capacity seriously? Ten years of mental capacity disputes before England’s Court of Protection
Abstract Most of the late 20th century wave of reforms in mental capacity or competence law were predicated upon the so-called ‘functional’ model of mental capacity, asking not merely whether a person had a mental disorder or disability but rather whether they were capable of making a specific decision (or decisions) at a specific point of time. This model is now
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Paradigm shifts or mirages?
The Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on the compliance of United Kingdom with the CRPD makes a very substantial number of hard-hitting, difficult to read (or refute) observations and recommendations about the ways in which the United Kingdom is letting down the rights of the disabled. Link to
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Hard Capacity Cases - An English Perspective and a Plea for Help
Alex Ruck Keene 7th August 2017
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Article 12: Equal recognition before the law
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Eleventh session 31 March–11 April 2014 General comment No. 1 (2014) Article 12: Equal recognition before the law View or download the article
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United Nations: Human Rights Council Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations General Assembly Human Rights Council Thirty-fourth session 27 February-24 March 2017 Mental health and human rights Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights View or download the article
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Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health View or download the article
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Guidelines on article 14 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Guidelines on article 14 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities The right to liberty and security of persons with disabilities View or download the article
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Article 19: Living independently and being included in the community
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Draft General Comment No. 5 (2017) Article 19: Living independently and being included in the community View or download article
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Advances in Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities
Is mental capacity in the eye of the beholder? The law, at least in England and Wales, divides adults [1] into those who have the mental capacity to make decisions and those who do not. This distinction is crucial, and underpins health and social care practice, not least as it answers the questions: (1) can
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Gareth Owen
Principal Investigator Workstream 3 & 6: Advance Directives (WS3) & Contested Assessment (WS6) Clinical senior lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, KCL and honorary consultant psychiatrist. Gareth has expertise in mixed methods, psychiatric phenomenology, mental health, ethics and law as well as policy. He will lead on Work Stream 3 and Work
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Scott Kim
Core member Workstream 6: Contested Assessment Senior investigator, Department of Bioethics, National Institute of Health, USA. Scott has interests in decision-making capacity and methodological issues in empirical bioethics research. He will conduct research within Work Stream 6 and contribute widely across the research network.
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Alex Ruck Keene
Core member Workstream 3 & 6 Advance Directives (WS3) & Contested Assessment (WS6) Barrister at 39 Essex Street Chambers and visiting research fellow at the Dickson Poon School of Law, KCL. Alex has expertise in mental health and capacity law, policy and guidelines. He will work as a senior legal researcher on WS6. He will
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Nuala Kane
Core member Workstream 6: Contested Assessment Nuala is a CT3 Psychiatry on the Maudsley Training Programme and a Clinical Research Associate with the Mental Health and Justice project. She has a background in philosophy of psychiatry and clinical interests in liaison and older adult psychiatry. She is a Mental Health Research UK MD(res) scholar and