[1][2] As of 2 August 2023[update] on a date to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor, the act will also apply to confining in a care facility.
[3] The HCCA states that a person has the right to consent to or refuse treatment if they have mental capacity.
In order to have capacity, a person must have the "ability" to understand and appreciate the consequences of the treatment decision.
[4] The HCCA exists in addition to the Ontario Mental Health Act (MHA) because, while the MHA governs detention in a psychiatric facility, the HCCA governs whether or not a person can be treated while in hospital[5] (for example, with anti-psychotic medication that can reduce symptoms of serious mental illness such as schizophrenia).
[citation needed] The law says that “a person is incapable of personal care if the person is not able to understand information that is relevant to making a decision concerning his or her own health care, nutrition, shelter, clothing, hygiene or safety, or is not able to appreciate the reasonably foreseeable consequences of a decision or lack of decision.”[6] There is a widely reported Supreme Court of Canada case called Starson v. Swayze that dealt with the right of a mentally ill person to refuse treatment, even if it is in their best interests to be treated (for example, with anti-psychotic medication that would reduce delusional thinking).