Mental Capacity Act Case Study

The Mental Capacity Act (MCA) is a law which applies to any individual aged 16 and over, who lacks mental capacity. It is a legal framework for all professionals in health care settings. According to the NHS (2015) it was designed to safeguard and empower these individuals to make their own decisions about the care and treatment that they can receive. The MCA was brought into law after the judgement of the Bournewood case, where an individual’s rights were infringed by article 5 of the Human Rights Act, which is the right to liberty and security. The Bournewood case involved an adult male who had profound learning disabilities and was autistic. After spending 32 years at Bournewood Hospital, in 1994 he was moved under a resettlement scheme …show more content…
As he was under sedation, he was very compliant with the hospital staff, doctors did not admit the individual using powers of detention under the Mental Health Act. When the individual’s foster carers realised that he was not going to be allowed home, they appointed a solicitor on his behalf and filed a case for unlawful detention to the High Court, which at first ruled against him. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (2015) states that in October 1997 The Appeal Court overturned the decision, and even though the individual did not meet the criteria, the hospital chose to section him. In December 1997, he was finally discharged by the hospitals managers. In the meantime, the hospital trust appealed to the House of Lords in regards of the ruling. The House of Lords overturned the ruling in 1998, stating that the individual’s detention had been illegal. After this, they decided to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled in his favour in October 2004. Following this, the government established the new Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, which came into practice in April 2009. (Equality and Human Rights Commission, …show more content…
The five main principles, as described by Graham and Cowley (2015) are that an individual must be thought to have capacity, unless it is clearly shown that he lacks mental capacity. An individual must also not be treated as if they are not able to make a decision, until all steps have been taken without success to help them do so. The third principle is that a person should not be treated as not having the capacity to make a decision, on the basis that they make an unwise decision. A decision made on behalf of an individual should who lacks capacity, should always be made in their best interests. The fifth principle is that before the decision is made, there must be regard to whether the motive for which it is needed can be successfully achieved in a way that is less limiting of the individual’s