Mental Capacity Assessments for COVID-19 Patients: Emergency Admissions and the CARD Approach

The doctrine of consent (or informed consent, as it is called in North America) is built upon presumptions of mental capacity. Those presumptions must be tested according to legal rules that may be difficult to apply to COVID-19 patients during emergency presentations. We examine the principles of m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of bioethical inquiry 2020-12, Vol.17 (4), p.803-808
Main Authors: Stewart, Cameron, Biegler, Paul, Brunero, Scott, Lamont, Scott, Tomossy, George F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Capacity and disability
COVID-19
COVID-19 (Disease)
Critical Care
Emergency medicine
Ethics
Humans
Informed Consent
Informed consent (Medical law)
Medical Law
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Mental Competency
Moral and ethical aspects
Pandemics
Patient Admission
SARS-CoV-2
Symposium COVID-19 Pandemic: 6. Clinical Implications
Symposium: COVID-19
Theory of Medicine/Bioethics
Treatment
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Summary:The doctrine of consent (or informed consent, as it is called in North America) is built upon presumptions of mental capacity. Those presumptions must be tested according to legal rules that may be difficult to apply to COVID-19 patients during emergency presentations. We examine the principles of mental capacity and make recommendations on how to assess the capacity of COVID-19 patients to consent to emergency medical treatment. We term this the CARD approach (Comprehend, Appreciate, Reason, and Decide).
ISSN:1176-7529
1872-4353
1872-4353
DOI:10.1007/s11673-020-10055-2