Differentiate between capacity and competency in medical decision-making and give a clinical example.

Differentiate between capacity and competency in medical decision-making and give a clinical example.

• A. Capacity is decision-specific and time-limited; competency is a legal determination. Example: a patient may have capacity to consent to a procedure but not to manage a complex financial decision.
• B. Capacity is stable and universal; competency is time-limited.
• C. Capacity is legal; competency is medical.
• D. Capacity equals competency.

Answer: (A)

Capacity is a clinical, decision-specific assessment of whether a patient can understand information, appreciate consequences, reason about options, and communicate a choice for a particular medical decision at a given time. It is decision-specific and time-limited because a person’s ability can vary by the decision and can change with illness, treatment, or circumstance. Competency, by contrast, is a legal determination made by a court or another authority about a person’s overall ability to manage personal affairs or make broad decisions; it is not a medical judgment and is not tied to a single decision or moment. In practice, you might see a patient have the capacity to consent to a medical procedure but not to manage a complex financial matter. This illustrates how capacity is specific to the decision at hand and can change over time, whereas competency is a broader, legally defined status.

Capacity is a clinical, decision-specific assessment of whether a patient can understand information, appreciate consequences, reason about options, and communicate a choice for a particular medical decision at a given time. It is decision-specific and time-limited because a person’s ability can vary by the decision and can change with illness, treatment, or circumstance. Competency, by contrast, is a legal determination made by a court or another authority about a person’s overall ability to manage personal affairs or make broad decisions; it is not a medical judgment and is not tied to a single decision or moment.

In practice, you might see a patient have the capacity to consent to a medical procedure but not to manage a complex financial matter. This illustrates how capacity is specific to the decision at hand and can change over time, whereas competency is a broader, legally defined status.