Capacity to make medical treatment decisions in multiple sclerosis: a potentially remediable deficit
Authors
Basso, Michael R.Candilis, Philip J.
Johnson, Jay
Ghormley, Courtney
Combs, Dennis R.
Ward, Taeh
UMass Chan Affiliations
Department of PsychiatryDocument Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2010-12-01Keywords
Multiple SclerosisDecision Making
Informed Consent
Mental Competency
Health Services Research
Mental and Social Health
Psychiatry
Psychiatry and Psychology
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Ability to make decisions about medical treatment is compromised in significant numbers of people with neurological and psychiatric illness, and this incapacity frequently corresponds with compromised neuropsychological function. Although cognitive deficits occur often in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), no research has studied decisional capacity in that disease. The present investigation examined ability to understand treatment disclosures, which is a core component of decisional capacity, in 36 people with MS and 16 normal controls. MS patients with diminished neuropsychological function showed poor understanding of treatment disclosures compared to the control group, and diminished new learning and executive function correlated with poorer understanding. Nonetheless, with sufficient cuing, the MS patients with diminished neuropsychological function were able to display understanding that was equivalent to that of the control group. Implications of these results for clinical practice and medical research involving people with MS are discussed.Source
J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 2010 Dec;32(10):1050-61. Link to article on publisher's siteDOI
10.1080/13803391003683062Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/45307PubMed ID
20446143Related Resources
Link to Article in PubMedae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1080/13803391003683062