{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/mental-capacity-amendment-act-2019/section-2",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/mental-capacity-amendment-act-2019/section-2.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/2019/18",
  "legislation_title": "Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/mental-capacity-amendment-act-2019",
  "path": "section/2",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "2",
  "heading": "Deprivation of liberty: authorisation of steps necessary for life-sustaining treatment or vital act",
  "text": "For section 4B of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 substitute—\n“Deprivation of liberty necessary for life-sustaining treatment or vital act\n4B (1) If Conditions 1 to 4 are met, D is authorised to take steps which deprive P of liberty.\n(2) Condition 1 is that the steps—\n(a) are wholly or partly for the purpose of giving P life-sustaining treatment or doing any vital act, or\n(b) consist wholly or partly of giving P life-sustaining treatment or doing any vital act.\n(3) A vital act is any act which the person doing it reasonably believes to be necessary to prevent a serious deterioration in P's condition.\n(4) Condition 2 is that the steps are necessary in order to give the life-sustaining treatment or do the vital act.\n(5) Condition 3 is that D reasonably believes that P lacks capacity to consent to D taking the steps.\n(6) Condition 4 is that—\n(a) subsection (7) applies, or\n(b) there is an emergency.\n(7) This subsection applies if—\n(a) a decision relevant to whether D is authorised to deprive P of liberty is being sought from the court, or\n(b) a responsible body is carrying out functions under Schedule AA1 with a view to determining whether to authorise arrangements that give rise to a deprivation of P's liberty.\n(8) In subsection (7) it does not matter—\n(a) whether the decision mentioned in paragraph (a) relates to the steps mentioned in subsection (1);\n(b) whether the arrangements mentioned in paragraph (b) include those steps.\n(9) There is an emergency if D reasonably believes that—\n(a) there is an urgent need to take the steps mentioned in subsection (1) in order to give the life-sustaining treatment or do the vital act, and\n(b) it is not reasonably practicable before taking those steps—\n(i) to make an application for P to be detained under Part 2 of the Mental Health Act,\n(ii) to make an application within subsection (7)(a), or\n(iii) to secure that action within subsection (7)(b) is taken.”",
  "extent": null,
  "status": "prospective",
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/18/section/2",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T09:04:04.938747+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}