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Competence of voluntary psychiatric patients to give valid consent to neuroleptic medication

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Moli Paul  and
Femi Oyebode
Moli Paul*
Affiliation:
Parkview Clinic, 60 Queensbridge Road, Moseley, Birmingham B13 8QE
Femi Oyebode
Affiliation:
South Birmingham Mental Health NHS Trust, Vincent Drive, Birmingham B15 2TZ
*
∗Correspondence
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Abstract

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Aims and method

To ascertain the competence of voluntary psychiatric patients to consent to neuroleptic medication and whether there is a hierarchy of tests of competence. A prospective, observational study of consecutive, voluntary admissions to an acute ward using a questionnaire designed to test four levels of competence, the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Brief Symptom Inventory.

Results

All subjects (n=40) could communicate a choice; 5% were competent at all levels. Tests were arbitrary and not hierarchical. Symptom relief/trust in doctors motivated most decisions to accept treatment.

Clinical implications

The number and identity of individuals identified as competent will vary with the test set, and tests limited to cognitive criteria will not cover the complexity of the task.

Type
Original Papers
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 23 , Issue 8: The Journal of Trends in Psychiatric Practice , August 1999 , pp. 463 - 466
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Footnotes

∗

This paper formed part of the dissertation that won the Howard White Memorial Prize in 1998.

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