[The simplicity of legislation and the unruly practice]

A recent assessment of the Dutch law pertaining to incompetent patients and their guardians suggests that physicians are uncertain about assessing their patients' decision-making capacities, as well as about determining what the proper role and position of the incompetent patient's guardian should be. In light of the fact that the uncertainty mentioned above has been a persistent finding in the assessment of the implementation of legislation ever since the introduction of the Medical Contract Act, the question arises as to how to account for the discrepancy between legal norms and prevailing practice. Conducting studies other than legal assessments, such as those utilising participant observation, could shed some light on this issue and may reveal that future interventions in the implementation of legal norms pertaining to incapacity and representation could better adopt a 'practice-based' rather than a 'law-based' approach.