Capacity and Judgment Evaluations for Patients Considering Aid in Dying – American Clinicians Academy on Medical Aid in Dying

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Primary responsibility for determining a patient’s capacity to make medical decisions resides with:*

The attending physician who would be prescribing
The consulting physician
The social worker
The hospice medical director

Where there is concern that a patient may lack capacity to make medical decisions, upon whose opinion should the decision be made as to whether or not to proceed with prescribing?*

The local probate court judge
The consulting mental health professional
The ethics committee
The consulting physician

An attending physician who participates regularly in prescribing aid-in-dying medications for his terminally ill cancer patients feels uncomfortable about prescribing for a particular patient who appears to meet all of the legal criteria for aid in dying. Under such circumstances:*

The attending physician can decline to prescribe.
The attending physician has a legal obligation to prescribe.
The consulting physician must prescribe
The hospice medical director must prescribe

Which statement correctly describes how the presence of a chronic psychiatric illness affects a patient’s capacity make medical decisions, such as pursuing aid in dying?*

Patients with chronic psychiatric illness lack capacity to make medical decisions, including medical aid in dying.
Patients with chronic psychiatric illness have impaired judgment, disqualifying them from aid in dying.
Patients with serious psychiatric illness warrant a psychiatric evaluation to assess decision-making capacity and impaired judgment
Patients with chronic psychiatric illness qualify for aid in dying as long as they have never been institutionalized.

Pre-test Quiz, Capacity, 2023