Is capacity to consent to healthcare a uniformly defined concept? Insights from a document analysis of laws and national guidelines across six European countries

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dc.contributor.authorFeiring, Ingvild Hjorth
dc.contributor.authorPedersen, Reidar
dc.contributor.authorKirkevold, Øyvind
dc.contributor.authorSurr, Claire
dc.contributor.authorDe Sabbata, Kevin
dc.contributor.authorSteyaert, Jan
dc.contributor.authorRouch, Isabelle
dc.contributor.authorBada, Hanane
dc.contributor.authorNordberg, Gunilla
dc.contributor.authorDonnelly, Mary
dc.contributor.authorO’Keeffe, Shaun
dc.contributor.authorGove, Dianne
dc.contributor.authorLichtwarck, Bjørn
dc.contributor.funderSykehuset Innlandet HF
dc.date.accessioned2026-09-29T15:54:01Z
dc.date.available2026-09-29T15:54:01Z
dc.date.issued2026-09-01
dc.description.abstractBackground Capacity to consent or decision-making capacity to healthcare is a key prerequisite for a valid informed consent. A clear understanding of this concept is important to protect patients’ autonomy. Without it, clinical assessments may vary, jeopardising patients’ participation in decisions about their care and increasing the risk of delayed, denied or harmful treatment. Despite substantial international debate and reforms concerning norms on capacity assessment, there remains a paucity of scholarly literature comparing national approaches, which could enable countries to learn from one another. This study aimed to explore how the concept of capacity to consent to healthcare and the assessment is described in documents, guiding healthcare professionals, issued by health authorities in: Norway, England and Wales, Belgium, France, Sweden and Ireland. Methods Explorative qualitative document analysis of health laws, national guidelines and recommendations published by national health authorities in each country. Results There is no uniform description of the concept of capacity to consent to healthcare across all countries, although some commonalities exist, such as the functional approach and some countries are more conceptually aligned. The level of descriptive detail on the assessment varied, and in some countries the documents did not include such descriptions. Discussion/conclusion To protect patients’ autonomy, it is important that healthcare professionals are provided with a comprehensive guidance document to support their understanding of the concept of capacity to consent to healthcare and how to assess this capacity. The findings indicate that several countries lack such provisions. This could threaten patient safety and wellbeing and make research and clinical practice development more challenging.en
dc.description.sponsorshipSykehuset Innlandet HF|150698
dc.description.versionPublished Version
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.articleid102235
dc.identifier.authororcidFeiring, Ingvild Hjorth
dc.identifier.authororcidPedersen, Reidar
dc.identifier.authororcidKirkevold, Øyvind
dc.identifier.authororcidSurr, Claire
dc.identifier.authororcidDe Sabbata, Kevin
dc.identifier.authororcidSteyaert, Jan
dc.identifier.authororcidRouch, Isabelle
dc.identifier.authororcidBada, Hanane
dc.identifier.authororcidNordberg, Gunilla
dc.identifier.authororcidDonnelly, Mary§0000-0001-7612-9722
dc.identifier.authororcidO’Keeffe, Shaun
dc.identifier.authororcidGove, Dianne
dc.identifier.authororcidLichtwarck, Bjørn
dc.identifier.citationFeiring, I H, Pedersen, R, Kirkevold, Ø, Surr, C, De Sabbata, K, Steyaert, J, Rouch, I, Bada, H, Nordberg, G, Donnelly, M, O’Keeffe, S, Gove, D & Lichtwarck, B 2026, 'Is capacity to consent to healthcare a uniformly defined concept? Insights from a document analysis of laws and national guidelines across six European countries', International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, vol. 108, 102235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2026.102235
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.ijlp.2026.102235
dc.identifier.issn0160-2527
dc.identifier.journaltitleInternational Journal of Law and Psychiatry
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/19365
dc.identifier.volume108
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherElsevier Ltd
dc.relation.urihttps://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105039853386
dc.rights© 2026, The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ).
dc.rights.accessrightsopen access
dc.rights.licensenameAttribution 4.0 International
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.statusPeer reviewed
dc.subjectAutonomy
dc.subjectCapacity
dc.subjectCapacity assessment
dc.subjectCapacity to consent
dc.subjectDecision-making capacity
dc.subject[Law]
dc.titleIs capacity to consent to healthcare a uniformly defined concept? Insights from a document analysis of laws and national guidelines across six European countriesen
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)
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