A health-care provider says I cannot decide about my medical treatment. What can I do?
It's the who suggests a medical treatment for you that decides if you're of consenting to it. Consent means that you agree to something.
Medical treatment is anything a health-care provider does to improve your health or stop it from getting worse. This includes medical care for an illness or injury, medicine or drugs, counselling, and surgery.
To be mentally capable to consent to a medical treatment, you must understand:
- what the treatment is, and
- what can happen if you decide to have or not have the treatment.
You can be mentally capable to consent to some treatments but not others.
You can also be capable one day but not another day. For example, you might go into a coma or start taking medication that affects your thinking.
If you're not mentally capable of consenting to a treatment, your health-care provider can ask someone to make health-care decisions for you. This person is called your for health-care decisions.
Talk to your health-care provider
Talk to your health-care provider if you think that you're mentally capable to consent to a medical treatment but they say you're not. Explain why you believe you're mentally capable.
It's a good idea to have a family member or friend with you when you talk to your health-care provider.
Go to the Consent and Capacity Board
If your health-care provider will not change their mind, you can apply to the Consent and Capacity Board.
The Board decides if the health-care provider is wrong to say that you're not mentally capable of agreeing to a specific treatment, like a surgery.
The Board cannot decide if you're capable of deciding about all treatments. This is because you may have capacity to make some decisions but not others. For example, you might be able to decide to get a flu shot but not about having surgery.
