Advance Care Directives Act 2013

For the purposes of this Act, a person will be taken to have impaired decision‑making capacity in respect of a particular decision if—

the person is not capable of—

understanding any information that may be relevant to the decision (including information relating to the consequences of making a particular decision); or

retaining such information; or

using such information in the course of making the decision; or

communicating their decision in any manner; or

the person has satisfied any requirement in an advance care directive given by the person that sets out when the person is to be considered to have impaired decision‑making capacity (however described) in respect of a decision of the relevant kind.

For the purposes of this Act—

a person will not be taken to be incapable of understanding information merely because the person is not able to understand matters of a technical or trivial nature; and

a person will not be taken to be incapable of retaining information merely because the person can only retain the information for a limited time; and

a person may fluctuate between having impaired decision‑making capacity and full decision‑making capacity; and

a person's decision‑making capacity will not be taken to be impaired merely because a decision made by the person results, or may result, in an adverse outcome for the person.