Advice centre

Retired consultant Dr Gibbons* and his registrar daughter Dr Brinkley* contact Medical Protection when they receive a request from the Coroner for statements.

What happens when separated parents ask for medical information about their child? Dr Heidi Mounsey, Medicolegal Consultant at Medical Protection, looks at this common query to our advice line.

Navigating the legal background and providing practical advice for doctors, Ricky Kimachia, advisory case manager at Medical Protection, considers recent queries from members regarding testamentary capacity.

To mark the Dying Matters national awareness week, between 13 and 19 May, Medical Protection asked nearly 400 members in the UK about their experiences on a number of issues such as DNACPR, organ donation and withdrawal of treatment.

Mental capacity is the ability to make a decision. If a person lacks capacity, they have an impairment or disturbance that leaves them unable to make a decision. A patient’s capacity to make decisions about their own care is a fundamental part of matters relating to end of life care

Is the patient’s son entitled to access his mother’s confidential information? Where a patient lacks capacity clinicians should consider what action is in the patient’s best interests.