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Table 2 Exemption to consent upon lacking competence to consent

From: Lack of informed consent for surgical procedures by elderly patients with inability to consent: a retrospective chart review from an academic medical center in Norway

The Norwegian Patients´ Rights Act Article 4–3 (2) Competence of consent

The Oviedo Convention Article 6 – Protection of persons not able to consent

Competence to give consent may cease to apply wholly or partly if the patient, on account of a physical or mental disorder, senile dementia or mental retardation, is clearly incapable of understanding what the consent entails.

Subject to Articles 17 and 20 below, an intervention may only be carried out on a person who does not have the capacity to consent, for his or her direct benefit.

Where, according to law, an adult does not have the capacity to consent to an intervention because of a mental disability, a disease or for similar reasons, the intervention may only be carried out with the authorisation of his or her representative or an authority or a person or body provided for by law.