Making decisions about care

Consenting to care

To give informed consent, you need to be given enough information to make decisions about your health and proposed treatments.

Your doctor must explain:

• your medical condition
• recommended treatment
• other treatment options
• the benefits and risks
• possible complications.

If you agree to the treatment, your doctor may ask you to sign a consent form. This gives them legal permission to treat you.

You must be legally capable to make decisions about your care and to give consent.

This means you understand all the information your doctor has given you about your condition and proposed treatment. You must also be able to communicate your decision to your doctor.

If it’s an emergency, a health professional or a family member may need to consent to emergency treatment on your behalf.

If you're over 18

If you’re over 18 you can give consent unless you have a mental illness or disability that affects your legal capacity. If you’re unconscious, another person, such as your doctor or family member, will also have to make decisions and give consent on your behalf.

If you're under 18

If you’re under 18, your parent, guardian or carer will usually need to give consent for you. You may be able to give consent yourself if you understand your condition, and everything about the recommended treatment.

Some decisions, about special medical procedures, cannot be decided by a parent or guardian. These must be decided by the Court.

Impaired capacity

If a patient has impaired capacity, someone else may need to make decisions for them.

The nature of the impairment, type of decision, and whether there are other people to support them, can affect someone’s ability to make decisions.

A patient may be able to make some health care decisions, like a minor decision about dressing a wound. They may not be able to make bigger decisions that are more complex and have greater risks.

Most hospitals have a Social Worker or Advance Care Planning Facilitator who can talk with the patient and their loved ones if they need help with decision making. Ask to talk to them at any time.

The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal or Supreme Court can make a formal declaration about a person’s capacity. Seek legal advice if you are unsure about someone’s capacity to make decisions about their health care.

Substitute decision makers

A substitute decision maker can make decisions for a person when they cannot make those decisions for themselves. For example, an Enduring Power of Attorney or Health Attorney. If a person has an Advance Health Directive, the name of the substitute decision maker will be listed in the document. Having an Advance Health Directive is voluntary. To learn more, visit 'Making decisions for others'.

If there isn’t a formally appointed person to make health decisions on a person’s behalf, they may be given a Statutory Health Attorney. By law, it is the first available and culturally appropriate adult from the following:

• a spouse or de facto partner (if the relationship is close and continuing)
• a person who is responsible for your primary care (but not a paid carer) over the age of 18
• a person who is a close friend or relative (but not a paid carer) who is over the age of 18
• when there is no one suitable or available, the Public Guardian

Need more information?

Find out more about capacity, consent, substitute decision-making and Advanced Care Planning.