BACKGROUND Little is known about the proportion of psychiatric in-patients who lack capacity to make treatment decisions, or the associations of lack of capacity. AIMS To determine the prevalence of psychiatric in-patients who lack capacity to make decisions about current treatment and to identify demographic and clinical associations with lack of mental capacity. METHOD Patients (n=112) we...

Although decisional incapacity can be caused by various medical conditions, incapacity due to mental illness is often singled out for scrutiny in research ethics policy debates. We assessed whether there is a general discriminatory perception of mental illness research and, if so, aimed to characterize the nature of that perception. We conducted an experimental, randomized Internet survey of th...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to establish the morbidity structure among testators whose wills were challenged as well as to reveal if there is a specific relationship between certain diagnostic categories in the testators' health status and forensic psychiatry expert opinion on testamentary incapacity. SUBJECTS AND METHODS The authors analyzed 156 consecutive forensic psychiatry repor...

What renders some mentally disordered patients incapable of informed consent to medical interventions? It is argued that a patient is incapable of giving informed consent owing to mental disorder, if a mental disorder prevents a patient from understanding what s/he consents to; if a mental disorder prevents a patient from choosing decisively; if a mental disorder prevents a patient from communi...

Diseases of skin account for a great deal of misery, suffering, incapacity and economic loss, Including the genetic causes the diet, climate, sunlight mental factors and allergy etc. have been proved as aetiological factors beyond doubts. Natural herbs seem to be more promising in the field of dematology as already described in ancient Ayurvedic texts.

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 patien...

The certificate is a valuable document, and it is of great importance that every doctor should so regard it.The total amount paid away every year in sickness and disablement benefits is over ?11,000,000. It stands to reason that, as the incapacity from work which entitles the insured person to receive the cash payment must be incapacity resulting from " some specific disease or bodily or mental...

Functional incapacity and cognitive impairment are conditions related to the process of human aging. Cognitive impairment is considered an important predicitve factor for functional impairment in elderly populations. This cross-sectional study analyzes the association between cognitive performance and functional capacity in an elderly population sample in Natal, Brazil. A total of 213 elderly p...