THE TAKEN

IF YOU FAIL A MENTAL CAPACITY TEST, YOUR PROVINCE CAN SELL YOUR HOME, MANAGE YOUR MONEY AND LOCK YOU IN LONG-TERM CARE. BUT WHAT IF THE TEST WAS WRONG?

- Sharon J. Riley

MURIEL SHAW had always said the only way she’d leave home was “feet first.” For Shaw, a retired British Columbia Institute of Technology clerk in her 80s, home was a double-wide trailer in Coquitlam. Shaw was living an independent life and had endured a series of challenges, including the loss of her partner, Mel, in 1996 and breast cancer when she was in her 60s. At the end of 2010, Shaw didn’t seem herself: she was anxious and confused. Chris Jarvis, her youngest son, said she was “just acting strange.” The family took her to the hospital.

After Shaw was admitted, hospital staff decided to give her a capacity assessment: a common evaluation administered to people who seem disoriented. The goal is to determine whether a person has the ability to understand information and foresee the consequences of their actions or decisions. And, though doctors often give these assessments, the responses lead to a legal outcome rather than a medical diagnosis. If the assessor determines that a person is incapable of making some or all of their own decisions, a “certificate of incapability” can then be issued. These certificates have different names depending on the province, but they all have more or less the same result: from that moment on, some or all of a person’s autonomy may be taken away for good.