Types of Incapacity that May Make a Testimentary Instrument Be Valid or Invalid in the Court

Individuals diagnosed with dementia have to face with the prospect of gradual loss of the capacity to make their own decisions. They need to think about and make their choises about care, treatment and money when they are not able to speak for themselves at some time in the future.

4. Made by a person with legal capacity - Competency is “the ability to perform a job.” In normal conditions this part mentions to an adult of complete mind who is able to pass the three tests defined above. Those considered not legally capable would include minors, and those who are so physiologically or psychologically troubled, they do not validate the ability to make informed judgements(Steer,

Contractual capacity is defined by the law to mean the ability to understand the consequences of a contract.

The Care Quality Commission David Behan, chief executive states if someone has dementia or has learning disability, they can still contribute to decisions about their care. If the Mental Capacity Act (2005) is implemented properly, people will receive appropriate care or if not properly executed, people who are deemed to lack capacity can be denial of their

Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act is a type of act which was created in 2006. This act aims to protect vulnerable adults aged 18 and over in health and social care settings in England and Wales. In a health and social are setting, members of staff which are also known as professionals must make sure that they check that there members of staff are not abusing any vulnerable adults. The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974

As people get old a few of them will experience changes in cognition with age related capacity rather than intellectual capacity. There are some people who get both disparities of mentally and physically impaired that will led into depression due to aging process of their body. Even though, the forgetfulness is a common among older adults, we as healthcare providers must evaluate altered mental status of the patients. “The evaluation and management of altered mental status are broad and require careful history and physical examination to eliminate life-threatening situations”(Patti & Dulebohn, 2017). Therefore, it is very important to recognize the importance of difference between normal age-related symptoms and developing new health problems that can arise in this specific population. As elders get older their memory lapses it frustrating to them leading them to be more worried about changes in their memory. Nurses have a unique capability to promote a cognitive health and determine the possibilities of potential cases of the impairment in elders. The movie “On Golden Pond” Mr. Norman was a perfect example and showed that his symptoms were interfering with his everyday live when he almost burns down the house with fire, calling Bill by his daughter’s name Chelsea and getting lost in on the lake. Even though, Mr. Norman had heart and dementia problems his wife never discouraged him to do what he liked such as

(3) "Competent" means that, in the opinion of a court or in the opinion of the patient's attending physician or consulting physician, psychiatrist, or psychologist, a patient has the ability to make and communicate an informed decision to health care providers, including communication through persons familiar with the patient's manner of communicating if those persons are available.

The claimant was alert and clear. He was orientated to person, place, time, and situation. His remote memory was poor. He was only able to remember one of the three words presented to him earlier in the evaluation. His immediate recall skills were above average for a forward recall task (8) and below average for a backward recall task (4). He was able to add, subtract, and multiply correctly. His word associations were poor. His abstract knowledge was fair. He somewhat interpreted two of the three proverbs presented. His social knowledge was good. His social reasoning was good. He was able to correctly identify the current president and his immediate predecessor. His concentration and persistence on task was average. His pace of task was fair.

This paper concerns the ethical basis for advance directives, or “Living Wills”; the value of these advance directives to the patients, their families; and the authorities that these advance directives give the above mentioned interested parties.

The test used to prove or disprove capacity is that of contractual capacity, and not of testamentary capacity.

It is critical for people to recognize the importance of obtaining a living will or a Medical Power of Attorney before a health concern occurs. Since the health of an individual can never be predicted because of unseen accidents and conditions that can arise it is imperative to make this a priority. Thanks to the “Patient Self-Determination Act of 1990” it is now a priority for a health facility to obtain an advance directive from a patient before care is given (Goede & Wheeler, 2015). However, relying on the probability that a patient will enter into a health facility in a state of good health is unpredictable. To assure that a patient’s autonomy is being respected in the medical decision-making process obtaining a living will or a Medical

The validity of a test if very important, because it can make or break a test. The purpose of a test is to measure something specific. If the test has low validity it is not measuring what it supposed to measure. The Holland codes validity is measured through the different personality types. The test has shown to accurately predict a possible career choice for each participants (O’Connell 1971).

Remember that living wills only become active when the patient becomes terminally ill – when death is imminent and the patient can no longer communicate his/her wishes to their physician, spouse, or family. Living will DO NOT become active immediately after you sign them.

The advance directive, or living will, is one way of circumventing the ethical dilemma of Quinlan, as it is essentially a set of choices by the competent patient if faced with different hypothetical circumstances. Patients can thus feel comfortable knowing that their competent wishes have been documented and can be easily interpreted in case of catastrophe. However, the authority of advance directives is a topic hotly debated amongst medical ethicists (see Advance Directive Authority). Arguments against directives state that not all factors are considered by the person creating the advance order. Also, in some cases of severe dementia, it is argued that the personal identity of the author is no longer intact and therefore has no authority over the treatment of the “new” person. The debate on this topic is extremely complex, but many of today’s cases are decided on an individual basis, with the directive often being upheld.

Mental ability can be defined as having the cognitive ability to acquire and preserve knowledge. The prospect of mental abilities being associated to longevity has been an area of interest for social scientists. Scottish Mental Surveys (SMS) of 1932 and 1947 carried a major research on intelligence-longevity association. This essay will demonstrate how different studies have supported the association using the four mechanisms proposed in the Scottish Mental Surveys: (a) bodily insults, (b) bodily system integrity, (c) predictor of healthy behaviour, and (d) predictor of safer environment. (Deary, Whiteman, Starr, Whalley, & Fox, 2004) Additional research will be applied to analyse the effectiveness of the causal mechanisms for the relationship between intelligence and longevity, and highlight on limitations in research that may falsify the relationship. Finally, the essay will conclude on whether evidence provided from different mechanisms is explicit enough to support the association, and provide suggestions on how the scope of enquiry can be broadened.