4BDeprivation of liberty necessary for life-sustaining treatment or vital act

1

If Conditions 1 to 4 are met, D is authorised to take steps which deprive P of liberty.

2

Condition 1 is that the steps—

a

are wholly or partly for the purpose of giving P life-sustaining treatment or doing any vital act, or

b

consist wholly or partly of giving P life-sustaining treatment or doing any vital act.

3

A vital act is any act which the person doing it reasonably believes to be necessary to prevent a serious deterioration in P's condition.

4

Condition 2 is that the steps are necessary in order to give the life-sustaining treatment or do the vital act.

5

Condition 3 is that D reasonably believes that P lacks capacity to consent to D taking the steps.

6

Condition 4 is that—

a

subsection (7) applies, or

b

there is an emergency.

7

This subsection applies if—

a

a decision relevant to whether D is authorised to deprive P of liberty is being sought from the court, or

b

a responsible body is carrying out functions under Schedule AA1 with a view to determining whether to authorise arrangements that give rise to a deprivation of P's liberty.

8

In subsection (7) it does not matter—

a

whether the decision mentioned in paragraph (a) relates to the steps mentioned in subsection (1);

b

whether the arrangements mentioned in paragraph (b) include those steps.

9

There is an emergency if D reasonably believes that—

a

there is an urgent need to take the steps mentioned in subsection (1) in order to give the life-sustaining treatment or do the vital act, and

b

it is not reasonably practicable before taking those steps—

i

to make an application for P to be detained under Part 2 of the Mental Health Act,

ii

to make an application within subsection (7)(a), or

iii

to secure that action within subsection (7)(b) is taken.