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Richard Griffith

Senior Lecturer in Health Law at Swansea University

Managing the interface between two Acts relevant to the deprivation of liberty

Both the Mental Health Act 1983 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005 have provisions for the authorisation of a deprivation of liberty that are compliant with Article 5 of the European Convention on Human...

Deprivation of liberty and children with complex needs: a new specialist court

Children are often subject to restrictions imposed by their parents or a person acting in loco parentis with such restrictions amounting to a deprivation of liberty.

Use of conditions in deprivation of liberty safeguard authorisations

To protect the dignity of patients by ensuring that restrictions imposed to protect that person and not overly intrusive, best interests assessors are commissioned to review the restrictions and...

Ensuring the necessity of best interests determinations

‘Keep to all relevant laws about mental capacity that apply in the country in which you are practising, and make sure that the rights and best interests of those who lack capacity are still at the...

Use of hospital and limitation directions under the Mental Health Act 1983

The Crime (Sentences) Act 1997 introduced hospital and limitation directions into the Mental Health Act 1983. Section 45A of the Mental Health Act 1983 allows the Crown Court to issue a hospital...

Insanity as a defence to a criminal charge

When a person with a mental disorder is prosecuted it is open to them to argue that they are not guilty by reason of insanity. This legal defence is available at common law to any criminal charge. For...

Consent and the requirement for accessible information

The law recognises that adults have a right to determine what will be done to their bodies (Re MB (Caesarean Section) [1997]). Touching a person without consent will amount to a civil trespass to the...

Nurses at risk of multiple jeopardy over allegations of unprofessional behaviour

Nurses' exposure to multiple jeopardy is founded on the multifaceted nature of the duty they owe to their patients and the nature of their accountability. Accountability underpins the professionalism,...

Leave of absence under the Mental Health Act 1983

‘Grant to any patient who is for the time being liable to be detained in a hospital under this Part of this Act leave to be absent from the hospital subject to such conditions (if any) as that...

Treatment as a whole approach to intervention without consent

‘The consent of a patient shall not be required for any medical treatment given to him for the mental disorder from which he is suffering, [not being a form of treatment to which safeguards apply],...

Determining death in cases of severe brain damage

There is no statutory definition of death (Grubb, et al, 2010). Generally the Triad of Bichat, which defines death as the failure of the body as an integrated system associated with the irreversible...

Consent, capacity and minors aged 16 and over

‘Every human being of adult years and sound mind has the right to determine what shall happen to their own body.’ .

The nurse's legal duty to safely delegate tasks and to follow up the outcome

‘… the process by which you (the delegator) allocate clinical or non-clinical care and support to a competent person (the delegatee). The delegator will remain responsible for the overall management...

Concerns over the use of consent to remove a baby into local authority care

The Children Act 1989, section 20 concerns the duty of a local authority to provide accommodation for children in need. It contains no compulsory provisions and no compulsory curtailment of parental...

Disputes about a person's best interests: Is there a need to go to court?

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 does not define a best interest. Instead, it sets out a checklist of factors that have to be taken into account when determining the best interests of a person who lacks...

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