Assessing decision-making capacity: lessons from the Court of Protection

There have now been several cases where the Court of Protection has been critical of the approach to the assessment of decision-making capacity adopted by health and social care professionals. There is concern that the rights of the frail and vulnerable to make unwise decisions about their health and residence are not being respected and that there is a return to the paternalistic, 'professional knows best' approach to care and treatment. In this article, Richard Griffith and Cassam Tengnah argue that community nurses can learn valuable lessons from recent cases in the Court of Protection that can be applied in practice when they are required to assess decision-making capacity.