Abstract
To fully respect patient autonomy, clinicians must incorporate patient input into decision-making about medical therapies and treatments. Physicians work together with patients to formulate treatment plans based on patients’ values. Decision-making capacity, a requirement for informed consent to a treatment or procedure, is assumed unless proven otherwise. Diseases that affect cognitive ability, such as dementia or mental illness, may affect decision-making capacity and require a formal assessment. The most common approach to determining capacity involves assessing four elements of decision-making capacity: (1) communicating a choice, (2) understanding relevant information, (3) appreciating a situation and its consequences, and (4) demonstrating rational reasoning. Patients may prove to have capacity to make some decisions but not others, depending on the complexity of the decision. If a patient is deemed to lack decision-making capacity, then a surrogate must be identified to act in his or her place.
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Lee, M., Wang, K. (2020). Assessment of Capability and Capacity. In: Chun, A. (eds) Geriatric Practice. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19625-7_23
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19625-7_23
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