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> Right to Determine Medical Treatment
Right to Determine Medical Treatment
Civil Partners
If a person in receipt of medical treatment is an adult, only that person can consent to the treatment. Consent will only be sought from a ‘nearest relative’ if that person is unconscious or mentally incapacitated.
Under the Civil Partnership Act 2004 (‘CPA’), civil partners are defined as ‘nearest relative’ and have the same rights and powers as heterosexual married partners to determine treatment. Further, a civil partner should now be regarded as the next of kin (a non-legal term previously confined to blood relatives or spouses) in relation to obtaining information from hospitals about their partner’s condition, or being consulted more generally by health professionals.
Non-Civil Partners
The case of SSG v Liverpool City Council (2002) extended the right to be defined as ‘nearest relative’ under the Mental Health Act 1983 to unmarried same sex couples who have lived together for six months. This means that same sex couples are now treated the same as unmarried heterosexual couples, whereas previously they only gained this right after living together for five years.
Although not regarded as ‘next of kin’, most health professional will be prepared to provide information and consult the partner of a same sex couple, even if he or she is not in a civil partnership. However there is no guarantee that this will occur.
