Mental Capacity Matters with Alex Ruck Keene Alex Ruck Keene

In this ‘in conversation with’, I talk to Jacob Jorem, a Norwegian psychiatrist, lawyer and researcher, about the Norwegian experience introducing decision-making capacity into (at least part of) mental health law, why the result of a process designed to reduced coercion was a very significant increase in the number of involuntary orders made, and how to assess why and how legal changes impact on practice.
Two articles explaining the Norwegian experience can be found here.
Impact of introducing capacity-based mental health legislation on the use of community treatment orders in Norway: case registry study
Increased autonomy with capacity-based mental health legislation in Norway: a qualitative study of patient experiences of having come off a community treatment order
I will also update the page when the fruits of the fascinating research Jacob is currently conducting into the Norwegian experience are published.
For the original video, see here: https://www.mentalcapacitylawandpolicy.org.uk/decision-making-capacity-and-mental-health-law-the-norwegian-experience-in-conversation-with-jacob-jorem/

In this “in conversation with”, I talk to Dr Jim Down about a whole host of matters related to intensive care, inspired by his recent book, Life in the Balance. We cover the realities of being in ICU, the interaction between law and ethics, and get into a discussion about the need for honesty about resource allocation (including touching on this paper about deliberative democracy and triage).
For the original video, see here.

To mark 10 years since the publication of the report of the House of Lords select committee convened to conduct post-legislative scrutiny of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, Dr Margaret Flynn, Chair of the National Mental Capacity Forum, joins me in the shed. Our conversation examines where the Act came from, and how we are (or are not) making progress in making it an Act which matters.
For the original video, see here.

In light of the publication of the Westminster Parliament’s Health and Social Care Committee’s (very good) report on assisted dying / assisted suicide on 29 February 2024 and as a modest contribution to informing debate about these issues, I have recorded an ‘informer,’ in which I give an overview of the current law in England & Wales and worldwide, set out some of the reasons why people might want change, and some reasons why people are concerned about it, and then look at what the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities might say of relevance. It is quite a lot for half an hour, and it goes without saying that it is an episode which engages with difficult matters.
For the underlying video, see here.

In this ‘in conversation with’ Professor Gavin Davidson, we discuss the new paper that he has co-authored, entitled Comparing mental health and mental capacity law data across borders: Challenges and opportunities, think about what data is actually useful, and use the example of the island of Ireland to dig into striking differences of approach. 
The original video is here.
(The ‘purpose’ clause that we discuss which featured in the report of the Independent Review of the MHA 1983 features at page 67 of here).

In the last 'in conversation' of 2023, I talk to Graham Morgan about his perspective on coercion in mental healthcare, what 'lived experience' means, and what is truly important in the mental health context.
For the original video, see here.