About

Elder law is a potential legal minefield of rights, responsibilities and obligations for health professionals, managers and carers in the elder care sector. This comprehensive 2-day training course will ensure that you have the knowledge and tools needed to comply with the many different Acts and legislation that come into play when dealing with elderly patients and residents.

Medical Perspective: Dr Greg Young, Psychogeriatrian

Legal Perspective: Alison Douglass, Barrister                                  



Course Outline

Capacity assessment & informed consent
•    The legal test for capacity in different situations
•    When is a capacity assessment required?
•    Legal and practical implications of finding a person lacks capacity
•    Assessments required when invoking an EPOA under the PPPR Act
•    Understand the interplay of Advanced Directives, Welfare Guardians, PPPR Act as they apply to informed consent
•    Right 7(4) of the Code – when informed consent is unavailable
•    Diminished competency and ensuring levels of consent under right 7(3)
•    What to do if there’s no one legally entitled to act on behalf of an incompetent person?
-    Type of orders that can be sought
-    How to apply to the Family Court under the PPPR Act

Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992
•    Compulsory assessment under the Mental Health Act 1992
•    When can compulsory assessment and treatment be administered?
• Interface with the PPPR Act

Enduring Power of Attorney
•    Understanding the legal authority and limitations
•    Different types of EPOA
•    Process when appointing and activating an EPOA

Advanced Directives & DNR orders
•    Respecting the patient’s wishes in decision-making
•    Legal framework and processes
•    The patient’s rights to refuse treatment
•    Best practice in using advanced directives and DNR orders
•    Who has the authority to make decisions to withhold or withdraw treatment?

Complaints and resolution process under the HDC Act
•    Understanding the HDC process of managing elder care complaints
•    Working with the HDC
•    What we can learn from recent case law
•    Decisions of the Human Rights Review Tribunal


Failing to protect – ‘vulnerable adults’
• Changes to the Crimes Act and the Domestic Violence Act 1995
•    Your legal obligations to prevent elder abuse
•    The powers and involvement of the Family Court

Facilitators

Alison Douglass, Barrister, Waterfront Chambers

Alison Douglass is a barrister, specialising in health law and bioethics, now practicing from both Wellington and Dunedin. She is also Convener of the Health Law Committee for the New Zealand Law Society.

Alison is appointed by the Family Court as counsel for the “subject person” (people who lack capacity) under the PPPR Act and has been counsel in a number of Family Court, High Court and Court of Appeal cases. Alison has  presented at numerous conferences and has a special interest in the ethics of legal capacity.

Dr Greg Young, Psychogeriatrian, Capital & Coast DHB

Greg currently works as a forensic psychiatrist for Capital and Coast DHB. He has worked in Lower Hutt as psychogeriatrician and consultation-liaison psychiatrist for 10 years and for two years in Hawkes Bay DHB as general adult and consultation-liaison psychiatrist. Greg obtained his basic medical qualification in Cape Town, and trained in psychiatry in New Zealand.

In-house Training