Health Care Decision Making Act 2023

A health care provider may administer health care to an individual without the consent of the individual or any other person if the health care provider believes on reasonable grounds that:

the health care is necessary, as a matter of urgency to:

save the individual's life; or

prevent serious damage to the individual's health; or

prevent the individual suffering, or continuing to suffer, from significant pain or distress; and

the individual has impaired decision making capacity in relation to the health care; and

it is not practicable to delay the health care to obtain or attempt to obtain consent from:

if the impaired decision making capacity is temporary – the individual; or

a health care decision maker; and

the health care is limited to what is necessary, as a matter of urgency.

Subsection (1) does not authorise a health care provider to administer health care to an individual if the health care provider is aware the individual has refused that health care by way of:

an advance consent decision; or

a previously informed refusal when the individual did not have impaired decision making capacity.

Part 5 NTCAT