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The legal and ethical requirements related to an anaesthetist's communication with patients in preparing them for anaesthesia, assisting them in making appropriate decisions and obtaining consent in a formal sense are complex. Doing these things well takes time, skill and sensitivity. The primary focus should be to adequately prepare patients for surgery and to ensure that they are sufficiently well informed to make the choices that best meet their own needs. This is just an affirmation of the importance of patient-centred care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents sometimes demand 'full active treatment' for a terminally ill child, even against medical advice. They think that they should decide their child's best interests, not medical staff, who may conclude too readily that the child's life is 'not worth living'. Only parents who know and love their child can decide that. Doctors and nurses, on the other hand, feel they have the training and experience to assess the pain and distress of heroic measures and whether they are justified in cases where a child cannot survive, or will have profound disability. This paper reviews recent case law in the United Kingdom and Australia on the role and processes of courts where a hospital (or a parent) applies for a court order regarding treatment. The author concludes that it is possible but unlikely that a court would direct medical staff to provide treatment they regard as clinically inappropriate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of the courts in 'communicating' with those affected by their decisions is contentious. Some legal commentators maintain that courts and legislators are able to communicate decisions effectively and that attempts to 'dumb down' the law will not make such decisions more accessible to doctors and other professionals. Justice Michael Kirby, on the other hand, seems to share the present author's view that judges could improve their communication of their decisions to a wider audience: 'In future, it seems inevitable that proceedings [of the High Court] will be broadcast live. Maybe one of the judges will explain the decisions of the court in simple terms as they are handed down ... Adaptation to new ways and values is part of the genius of our law, although some of its practitioners need to be dragged kicking and screaming to accomplish the changes' (emphasis added).(1) This article explores the position in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explores contrasting legal and medical approaches to policy making on genetic testing and the control and use of human tissue and genetic information, especially in the intra-familial context. Incidence and types of genetic disorders; Purposes of genetic testing; Unique features of genetic testing and diagnosis.

Abstract: To investigate the association between competence to give informed consent to treatment, specific symptomology and diagnostic category, 110 inpatients diagnosed with DSM-IV acute schizophrenia (n =64), schizoaffective disorder (n =25) and bipolar affective disorder (n =21) were interviewed using the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool for Treatment (MacCAT-T) and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Results indicated no significant difference in competence between the three disorders. Elevated positive, cognitive and excitement PANSS factor scores had lower MacCAT-T scores. Further analyses indicated symptoms that impair cognition; particularly, conceptual disorganisation and poor attention were most consistently related to poor performance on competence tests. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]