to think that an assessment for mental capacity should not rely on cooperation

[CarolineFields]

If someone is does not have mental capacity to make their own decisions, one of those decisions they are not capable of making is whether to cooperate with a test to see if they have capacity to make their own decisions.

I would have thought that was self evident.

I find it incredibly frustrating for a court case to proceed on the grounds that lack of mental capacity has not been proved, when it never will be if the person has to agree to be assessed.

Surely there has to be some way around this. Surely it could be made legal for a GP to state they have concerns about the mental capacity of a patient, and that should be enough for a court to assume the person does not have mental capacity UNLESS they agree to take an assessment which proves they do!

You can if they engage. But equally it's someone's choice whether to engage or not for whatever reason. Sometimes that will be because they can't understand the importance linked to their capacity, but sometimes it will be for a range of other reasons. It wouldn't be right to assume anyone who didn't engage lacked capacity. I can feel your frustration though and wish you and your relative well.

Thanks. but this is exactly what I mean, you can only prove lack of capacity if they engage, but if they dont have the capacity to engage, you are really stuck!

And now they are dead. Which sort of proves they didn't have capacity to look after themselves and make decisions, doesn't it.

Predictable

It looks like they died of hypothermia sleeping out in the heavy rain. But will have to wait for autopsy results to know for sure.

No, it does not. Sadly, capacious people do take their own lives. I don’t know about your situation to comment. I am sorry though, it sounds beyond horrific and traumatic. Sometimes ‘systems’ as a whole let people down.

They did not take their own lives, they got lost outside at night in heavy rain in pjs

I’m so sorry,
that sounds horrific. That’s incredibly sad.