"This volume is the product of an eight-year study of patients' capacities to make treatment decisions - the most comprehensive research of its kind. The authors describe the place of competence in the doctrine of informed consent, analyze the elements of decision making, and show how assessments of competence to consent to treatment can be conducted within varied general medical and psychiatric treatment settings. The book explains how assessments should be conducted and offers detailed, practice-tested interview guidelines to assist medical practitioners in this task. Numerous case studies illustrate real-life applications of the concepts and methods discussed. Grisso and Appelbaum also explore the often difficult process of making judgments about competence and describe what to do when patients' capacities are limited.". "Assessing Competence to Consent to Treatment will benefit a wide array of medical practitioners - including physicians, medical students, residents, nurses, and other allied health professionals - who need to assess the mental competence of patients in their everyday practice. It will also interest ethicists and moral philosophers, as well as geriatricians and clinical psychologists working with cognitively impaired patients."--BOOK JACKET.