– We propose these changes after clear feedback from relatives and from the professional field, says Health and Care Minister Jan Christian Vestre (Ap) in a press release.
They have said that it has become more difficult to provide good help after a lack of competence to consent was introduced as a condition for forced treatment in 2017.
The government will replace the term “competence to consent”, which is currently used to refer to a patient’s ability to make considered decisions about their own healthcare, with “decision-making competence” to emphasize the patient’s right to refuse healthcare.
At the same time, the government wants to lower the proof requirement for lack of decision-making competence from “obvious” to “predominantly probable.” Vestre believes the change will contribute to a better balance between the patient’s right to self-determination and the right to healthcare.
– It will be easier to help patients who do not understand that they need health care, says Vestre.
The government also proposes that patients with serious mental disorders who do not object to treatment should be able to get help without coercive measures having to be taken. They will also make changes to the legislation on the rights of next of kin and the assessment of danger linked to social protection.
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