MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool for Treatment/ 10 PAC: Forms/ 10 PAC

Law and ethical practice require that patients must be competent to make treatment decisions when they accept or refuse medical and mental health interventions. Clinicians often are asked to evaluate patients' competence to consent to treatment, for purposes of determining how medical and psychiatric staff should proceed and whether the treatment decision should be made by someone else on behalf of an incompetent patient. The MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool for Treatment (MacCAT-T) is the product of an 8-year study of patients' capacities to make treatment decisions. It is a semi-structured interview that assists clinicians who are conducting assessments of patients' competence to consent to treatment. The process provides a patient with the information about the medical/psychiatric condition that needs intervention, the type of treatment being recommended, its risks and benefits, as well as other possible treatments and their probable consequences. During this process, the MacCAT-T prompts the clinician to ask questions that assess the patient's understanding, appreciation, and reasoning regarding treatment decisions.