Incapable adults and informal admission: another scenario.

The Court of Appeal has once again caused a flurry of consternation with its decision that patients incapable of giving consent to admission to psychiatric hospital must, if the statutory provisions are present, be admitted compulsorily under the Mental Health Act 1983. This article submits that this decision can only cause increased bureaucracy and distress for thousands of mentally incompetent adults. The long-term solution is for the Law Commission's proposals for decision making for mentally incompetent adults to be enacted.