4B[F1Deprivation of liberty necessary for life-sustaining treatment etc][F1Deprivation of liberty necessary for life-sustaining treatment or vital act]E+W
[F1(1)If the following conditions are met, D is authorised to deprive P of his liberty while a decision as respects any relevant issue is sought from the court.
(2)The first condition is that there is a question about whether D is authorised to deprive P of his liberty under section 4A.
(3)The second condition is that the deprivation of liberty—
(a)is wholly or partly for the purpose of—
(i)giving P life-sustaining treatment, or
(ii)doing any vital act, or
(b)consists wholly or partly of—
(i)giving P life-sustaining treatment, or
(ii)doing any vital act.
(4)The third condition is that the deprivation of liberty is necessary in order to—
(a)give the life-sustaining treatment, or
(b)do the vital act.
(5)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.]
[F1(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.]
Textual Amendments
F1S. 4B substituted (16.5.2019 for specified purposes) by Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 (c. 18), ss. 2, 6(3)