Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The only show in town at present, 8 Jan 2009
Whilst the section by section commentary on the Act itself is the best available there is very little commentary on the schedules and regulations.
The book includes the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards Code of Practice but oddly not the main Mental Capacity Act Code of Practice.
The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards commentary is confined to a free text essay style chapter with no paragraph by paragraph commentary on the schedule A1 dols provisions themselves.
There are, I think, too many in text and index typos which should have been picked up during proofreading: references to paragraphs that don't exist in the index for example.
There's also arguably too much author centred opinion inflicted upon the commentary in contrast the author's Mental Health Act Manual. The author's interpretation of what constitutes a deprivation of liberty is a case in point. He may well be right (and probably is) but it would be good to know more about the other legal perspectives.
Having said that it is a genuinely impressive book and when all is said and done a must buy which you won't regret for a second.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mental capacity updated by the MHA 2007, 29 Mar 2009
As the author Richard Jones points out in the Preface to this new Third Edition, the Mental Capacity Act has been substantially amended by the Mental Health Act 2007 to put in place a procedure that can be used to take away the liberty of a mentally incapacitated person, following on from the Government's response to the finding of the European Court of Human Rights in "Bournewood".
Jones's disapproval of all this is made quite clear. A highly respected authority on mental health law, he says in effect, that the Government could simply have made minor amendments to the Mental Health Act 1983 and still have achieved its objective. Instead the new Act is, in the author's words, `hugely complex, voluminous, overly bureaucratic and difficult to understand, and yet provides mentally incapacitated people with minimum safeguards'.
Is this yet another case, we ask ourselves, where too little clarity matched by, or caused by, a remote, careless and complacent bureaucracy has created yet another piece of flawed legislation which can impact seriously on the lives of ordinary folk, particularly the vulnerable?
Well some people think so, notably the Joint Committee on Human Rights. The author quotes here from the Committee's "Legislative Scrutiny: Mental Health Bill":
"The proposals to amend the Mental Capacity Act are detailed and complex and we questions whether they will be readily understood by proprietors of residential care homes, even with the benefit of professional advice."
This is of course is only one example of the problem. But it is as good a reason as any to acquire this book if you are a professional involved in this difficult and vexed area of law.
The book provides a ready reference to -- and explanation of -- the scope of the MCA 2005. Usefully, it clarifies the interaction between the Act and the Mental Health Act 2007, paying particular attention to the new 'Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards' following the `Bournewood' ruling. There is also a supplement to the Code of Practice which provides guidance on the safeguards, as well as extensive quotations and references to the Code of Practice in the annotations.
The book guides you section by section through the Act and covers all the changes and developments that have occurred since the Act was passed including:
* The amendments made to the MCA 2005 by the Mental Health Act 2007
* An analysis of the implications of the regulations which have been issues under the Act
* An examination of the common law principles relating to incapacity
* An outline of the rules and responsibilities of the Court of Protection, and its role in dealing with disputes over care and treatment.
For the practitioner specialising in Mental Health Law, the aptly named `Mental Capacity Act Manual' is particularly valuable, especially in its largely successful attempt to assign some clarity to that which is often opaque- the third edition is just the ticket with the current legislation now in force with the Codes of Practice.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
definitive yet in progress, 1 Jun 2008
For those familiar with the Mental Health Act Manual, this will be like an old friend in slimmer trim. Admittedly, here is a work in progress, as the Act is still in infancy. Set out here then is the full text of the act, interpretations based upon the common law relating to capacity before the Act, and the erudite but brief interprettion familiar from the other work.
This should become as indispensible as the first book to psychiatrists and lawyers alike.
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by Richard Jones
![Mental Capacity Act 2005 code of practice: [2007 final edition]: Code of Practice to the Mental Capacity Act 2005](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Sr1ssQPML._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
by Department for Constitutional Affairs
by Great BritainMinistry of Justice
by Paul Bowen
![Mental Capacity Act 2005 code of practice: [2007 final edition]: Code of Practice to the Mental Capacity Act 2005](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Sr1ssQPML._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
