Question

How could you rewrite or paraphrase this one:

As the readings discussed, capacity depends a lot on context. It is risky to have a blanket approach to denying someone capacity of a certain situation. On the subject of mental illness, one person's severity may be worse than someone else's. And it is more difficult to determine that difference in severity and thus ability to have capacity and make your own decisions. Someone may be showing intense signs of depression, but they still may believe that they can understand and make their own decisions. This may not be true, but it is harder to tell. Then you run into the issue of stepping on someone autonomy. In that sense, it's hard to say whether it is fair or unfair to limit someone's capacity in that situation. It really does depend on context, and it may still be the wrong decision. I think about a kid I babysit who has Downs syndrome. His capacity to understand and make decisions varies on the day and improves with age and experience. I want him to be able to make his own medical decisions when he's older, at least some of them, and he very well may be able to. But it is hard to determine if he has reached that threshold or not. When in doubt, I suppose it is up to doctors to be as informed as possible about a person's situation and advise them accordingly.

Answer 1

According to the literature, the capacity of the individual depends on the context it is being expressed for. it is not ethical and is risky to deny someone's potential capacity for any situation under any circumstances. Similarly, on the context of mental illness a person may have severe illness than other and thus their capacities may vary. Therefore, comparing two individual on basis of the capacity they have to make decisions unknowing of the severity of their disease is not adequate. Doing so is hard and challenging as well as it leads to violation of someone's autonomy and respect. So it can be said that in such situation to limit one's capacity is not a very wise decision and can be reviewed. Therefore, it is said that the capacity is always correlated to context and limiting one's capacity by assuming their functioning power in a particular situation is not right. Reflecting this concept I evaluated the kid i baby sit who has Down's syndrome.His capacity to understand, make decisions and interact differs every day and is also enhancing with time and age. I want him to be competent to make his own health care decisions when he is old and I am sure he will be able to do so adequately. One challenge here identified is to know the point when the individual is ready to take own decisions or is recovered well to at-least that threshold of capacity required for any task. Whenever one is in doubt the doctor must be informed and consulted for better service provision.