Mental Capacity Act 2008 - Singapore Statutes Online

PART 3

ACTS IN CONNECTION WITH CARE OR TREATMENT

Acts in connection with care or treatment

7.—(1) If a person (“D”) does an act in connection with the care or treatment of another person (“P”), the act is one to which this section applies if —

(a)

before doing the act, D takes reasonable steps to establish whether P lacks capacity in relation to the matter in question; and

(b)

when doing the act, D reasonably believes —

(i)	that P lacks capacity in relation to the matter; and
(ii)	that it will be in P’s best interests for the act to be done.

(2) D does not incur any liability in relation to the act that D would not have incurred if P —

(a)	had had capacity to consent in relation to the matter; and
(b)	had consented to D’s doing the act.

(3) Nothing in this section —

(a)	excludes a person’s civil liability for loss or damage, or the person’s criminal liability, resulting from the person’s negligence in doing the act;
(b)	affects the operation of the Advance Medical Directive Act 1996;
(c)	applies to the conduct of a clinical trial; or
(d)	applies to the conduct of human biomedical research within the meaning of the Human Biomedical Research Act 2015 or the removal or use of human tissue under that Act. [29/2015]

Section 7 acts: limitations

8.—(1) If D does an act that is intended to restrain P, it is not an act to which section 7 applies unless 2 further conditions are satisfied.

(2) The first condition is that D reasonably believes that it is necessary to do the act in order to prevent harm to P.

(3) The second condition is that the act is a proportionate response to —

(a)	the likelihood of P’s suffering harm; and
(b)	the seriousness of that harm.

(4) For the purposes of this section, D restrains P if D —

(a)	uses, or threatens to use, force to secure the doing of an act which P resists; or
(b)	restricts P’s liberty of movement, whether or not P resists.

(5) Section 7 does not authorise a person to do an act which is inconsistent with a decision made, within the scope of the authority of, and in accordance with this Act, by —

(a)	a donee of a lasting power of attorney granted by P; or
(b)	a deputy appointed for P by the court.

Payment for necessary goods and services

9.—(1) If necessary goods or services are supplied to a person who lacks capacity to contract for the supply, the person must pay a reasonable price for them.

(2) In subsection (1), “necessary” means suitable to a person’s condition in life and to the person’s actual requirements at the time when the goods or services are supplied.

Expenditure

10.—(1) If an act to which section 7 applies involves expenditure for necessary goods or services within the meaning of section 9, it is lawful for D to apply money in P’s actual possession for meeting the expenditure.

(2) If the expenditure is borne for P by D, it is lawful for D —

(a)	to reimburse himself or herself out of money in P’s actual possession; or
(b)	to be otherwise indemnified by P.

(3) Subsections (1) and (2) do not affect any power under which (apart from those subsections) a person —

(a)	has lawful control of P’s money or other property; and
(b)	has power to spend money for P’s benefit.

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