Acts in connection with care or treatment
Open ↗7.—(1) If a person (“D”) does an act in connection with the care or treatment of another person (“P”), the act is one to which this section applies if —(a)
before doing the act, D takes reasonable steps to establish whether P lacks capacity in relation to the matter in question; and
(b)
when doing the act, D reasonably believes —(i)
that P lacks capacity in relation to the matter; and
(ii)
that it will be in P’s best interests for the act to be done.
(2) D does not incur any liability in relation to the act that D would not have incurred if P —(a)
had had capacity to consent in relation to the matter; and
(b)
had consented to D’s doing the act.
(3) Nothing in this section —(a)
excludes a person’s civil liability for loss or damage, or the person’s criminal liability, resulting from the person’s negligence in doing the act;
(b)
affects the operation of the Advance Medical Directive Act 1996;
(c)
applies to the conduct of a clinical trial; or
(d)
applies to the conduct of human biomedical research within the meaning of the Human Biomedical Research Act 2015 or the removal or use of human tissue under that Act.[29/2015]
Section 7 acts: limitations
Open ↗8.—(1) If D does an act that is intended to restrain P, it is not an act to which section 7 applies unless 2 further conditions are satisfied.
(2) The first condition is that D reasonably believes that it is necessary to do the act in order to prevent harm to P.
(3) The second condition is that the act is a proportionate response to —(a)
the likelihood of P’s suffering harm; and
(b)
the seriousness of that harm.
(4) For the purposes of this section, D restrains P if D —(a)
uses, or threatens to use, force to secure the doing of an act which P resists; or
(b)
restricts P’s liberty of movement, whether or not P resists.
(5) Section 7 does not authorise a person to do an act which is inconsistent with a decision made, within the scope of the authority of, and in accordance with this Act, by —(a)
a donee of a lasting power of attorney granted by P; or
(b)
a deputy appointed for P by the court.
Payment for necessary goods and services
Open ↗9.—(1) If necessary goods or services are supplied to a person who lacks capacity to contract for the supply, the person must pay a reasonable price for them.
(2) In subsection (1), “necessary” means suitable to a person’s condition in life and to the person’s actual requirements at the time when the goods or services are supplied.
Expenditure
Open ↗10.—(1) If an act to which section 7 applies involves expenditure for necessary goods or services within the meaning of section 9, it is lawful for D to apply money in P’s actual possession for meeting the expenditure.
(2) If the expenditure is borne for P by D, it is lawful for D —(a)
to reimburse himself or herself out of money in P’s actual possession; or
(b)
to be otherwise indemnified by P.
(3) Subsections (1) and (2) do not affect any power under which (apart from those subsections) a person —(a)
has lawful control of P’s money or other property; and
(b)
has power to spend money for P’s benefit.
Source: Singapore Statutes Online (Attorney-General's Chambers), © Government of Singapore.
