The authors draw together the disparate scholarly and judicial
commentaries on consent to medical treatment to develop a model of the
components in the decision-making process regarding consent to or refusal
of psychiatric treatment. The components consist of the precondition of
voluntariness, the provision of information, the patient's competency and
understanding, and, finally, consent or refusal. They offer two models of
valid consent: the objective model, which focuses on the congruence or lack
of it between the patient and a "reasonable" person, and the subjective
model, which focuses entirely on the patient's actual understanding.Abstract Teaser