ABSTRACT
Traditionally the process of making healthcare decisions has been articulated in terms of a contractual negotiation between health workers and their patients. Patients have a fundamental right to make choices about proposed healthcare interventions. This is based on the available information about anticipated benefi ts and harms of that intervention. It is also contingent upon their ability to make the decision at hand: broadly, their capacity to take in and weigh the information provided to them and to express their choices.
