Health Care Decision Making Act 2023

NTCAT may, by order, do one or more of the following:

limit or vary a health care decision or the authority of a health care decision maker to make a health care decision under this Act;

decide who is the appropriate health care decision maker for an adult with impaired decision making capacity;

if a person specified in section 13(a) or (b) is not willing or able to make a health care decision:

determine who should be the health care decision maker; or

make the health care decision itself;

approve or allow any practice or health care for which a health care decision maker has no authority under section 29 or 30;

subject to subsection (2), disregard an advance consent decision;

provide for any related matter it considers necessary.

NTCAT may order that an advance consent decision be disregarded only if satisfied that:

there is no reasonable possibility that the adult would have intended the advance consent decision to apply in the circumstances;

or

the advance consent decision was not an informed decision; or

giving effect to the advance consent decision:

would cause the adult unacceptable pain and suffering; or

would otherwise be so wholly unreasonable that it is justifiable to override the adult's wishes.

NTCAT may make an order under subsection (1) on application or on its own initiative.

The authority to make orders under this section comes within

NTCAT's original jurisdiction.

NTCAT must act in accordance with the decision making principles in section 18 when making a health care decision.