Mental health law is a challenging area as it strives to balance patient autonomy and the protection of vulnerable persons. On one hand it attempts to preserve the rights of individuals to make decisions about their own bodies relating to medical treatment or admission to psychiatric or long-term care facilities; on the other hand, it attempts to protect people from themselves when they do not have the capacity to make such decisions. The law in Ontario establishes a legal test for capacity that must be met in order for a person to make certain types of decisions.

Our areas of practice include: Representation before the consent and capacity board.

While the determination of whether a person suffers from a disease or disability of the mind must be made by a medical professional, the determination of capacity is a legal matter. Consent and capacity issues can arise when health care decisions are made by or for people with:

• mental illness
• dementia
• brain injuries
• developmental or intellectual disabilities

Consent and capacity laws can also apply to decisions involving children, particularly adolescents and teenagers.

Three key statutes in Ontario govern consent and capacity and mental health law: the Health Care Consent Act, the Mental Health Act and the Substitute Decisions Act. We have significant expertise in the interpretation and application of these statutes.

Ontario’s Consent and Capacity Board hears applications by persons challenging the decisions of psychiatrists and other caregivers that affect liberty, bodily and mental integrity. The Law office of Eyitayo F. Dada is deeply committed to assisting those involuntarily detained in hospital, facing findings of treatment or financial incapacity or subject to community treatment orders. We are also active in appeals from Board decisions.