[Expert testimony according to the new legislation]

On 1 January 1992 the new Care Act will come into force. It will abolish guardianship, and will replace both guardianship and curatorship of persons of full age with the new legal institution of placement under care. Legal interventions will be restricted to what is only absolutely necessary: persons under care are to be given help--and not deprived of their rights. Experts will be faced with new tasks and requirements. Medical diagnosis will no longer be the central focus of expert opinion. Rather, the crucial factor will be to ascertain the consequences--deficiencies and remaining capacities--of mental disease or of a physical, mental or emotional disability. The expert will be called upon to help limit the number of cases where persons are placed under care in court proceedings to what is dictated by necessity in terms of both the extent and the duration of care.