Act Number: 10

Act Name: The Mental Healthcare Act, 2017

Year: 2017

Enactment Date: 2017-04-07

Long Title: An Act to provide for mental healthcare and services for persons with mental illness and to protect, promote and fulfil the rights of such persons during delivery of mental healthcare and services and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

Ministry: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

Department: Department of Health and Family Welfare

Section 4: Capacity to make mental healthcare and treatment decisions.
    (1) Every person, including a person with mental illness shall be deemed to have capacity to make decisions regarding his mental healthcare or treatment if such person has ability to—
         (a) understand the information that is relevant to take a decision on the treatment or admission or personal assistance; or
         (b) appreciate any reasonably foreseeable consequence of a decision or lack of decision on the treatment or admission or personal assistance; or
         (c) communicate the decision under sub-clause (a) by means of speech, expression, gesture or any other means.
     (2) The information referred to in sub-section (1) shall be given to a person using simple language, which such person understands or in sign language or visual aids or any other means to enable him to understand the information.
     (3) Where a person makes a decision regarding his mental healthcare or treatment which is perceived by others as inappropriate or wrong, that by itself, shall not mean that the person does not have the capacity to make mental healthcare or treatment decision, so long as the person has the capacity to make mental healthcare or treatment decision under sub-section (1).
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