Safeguards
2Deprivation of liberty: authorisation of steps necessary for life-sustaining treatment or vital act
For section 4B of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 substitute—
4BDeprivation of liberty necessary for life-sustaining treatment or vital act
1
If Conditions 1 to 4 are met, D is authorised to take steps which deprive P of liberty.
2
Condition 1 is that the steps—
a
are wholly or partly for the purpose of giving P life-sustaining treatment or doing any vital act, or
b
consist wholly or partly of giving P life-sustaining treatment or doing any vital act.
3
A vital act is any act which the person doing it reasonably believes to be necessary to prevent a serious deterioration in P's condition.
4
Condition 2 is that the steps are necessary in order to give the life-sustaining treatment or do the vital act.
5
Condition 3 is that D reasonably believes that P lacks capacity to consent to D taking the steps.
6
Condition 4 is that—
a
subsection (7) applies, or
b
there is an emergency.
7
This subsection applies if—
a
a decision relevant to whether D is authorised to deprive P of liberty is being sought from the court, or
b
a responsible body is carrying out functions under Schedule AA1 with a view to determining whether to authorise arrangements that give rise to a deprivation of P's liberty.
8
In subsection (7) it does not matter—
a
whether the decision mentioned in paragraph (a) relates to the steps mentioned in subsection (1);
b
whether the arrangements mentioned in paragraph (b) include those steps.
9
There is an emergency if D reasonably believes that—
a
there is an urgent need to take the steps mentioned in subsection (1) in order to give the life-sustaining treatment or do the vital act, and
b
it is not reasonably practicable before taking those steps—
i
to make an application for P to be detained under Part 2 of the Mental Health Act,
ii
to make an application within subsection (7)(a), or
iii
to secure that action within subsection (7)(b) is taken.