Mental Incapacity Among Patients in Medical Wards More Widespread than Doctors Realise

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Mental Incapacity Among Patients in Medical Wards More Widespread than Doctors Realise
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ACUTELY ILL MENTAL INCAPACITY
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Doctors working in medical wards with acutely ill and predominantly elderly patients need to be more aware that mental incapacity among their patients-and therefore the inability to give informed consent about treatment-is a potentially widespread problem.



ISSUE: 16-22 October 2004

Newswise - Doctors working in medical wards with acutely ill and predominantly elderly patients need to be more aware that mental incapacity among their patients-and therefore the inability to give informed consent about treatment-is a potentially widespread problem.

Although patients' mental incapacity is becoming increasingly important in clinical practice, little information is available on its frequency in inpatients. Matthew Hotopf (Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK) and colleagues estimated the prevalence of mental incapacity in acutely admitted medical inpatients; they also determined the frequency that medical teams recognised patients who did not have mental capacity, and sought to identify factors associated with mental incapacity.

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/507633/