Member

Under the Mental Capacity Act, such individuals are presumed to have capacity unless proven otherwise and clinicians are required to take all practicable steps to support decision-making. In this context, that duty risks becoming a danger. Where a person cannot retain information, they are likely to rely heavily on others—family members, carers, clinicians—to rehearse and restate the decision for them. That creates vulnerability to influence, authority and pressure, whether intended or not. Amendment 107 would close off the possibility that someone who cannot retain information is nevertheless led, supported or nudged towards an assisted death that is not truly of their own decision.