Mental Capacity Matters with Alex Ruck Keene

In the latest ‘in conversation with,’ I talk to Dr Jonathan Brown about the very different approach to the decision-making authority granted children in Scotland, prompted by his article arising out of this case decided in Scotland just before Christmas 2025. The discussion hopefully serves both to alert people to the fact that they should not assume that things are the same either side of the bor...

In this ‘in conversation’ with Dr Beverley Samways, we talk about the scoping review she has led on to review NHS restraint policies in relation to people with learning disabilities, in the context of Seni’s Law ( the Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Act 2018 ), explaining the motivation, the findings and the recommendations, to be found on the resources page for the project here . The original...

In this ‘in conversation with,’ I talk to Professor Tony David about his new paper, Insight, the law and psychiatry: Going round in circles or playing nice? . We talk about what ‘insight’ means clinically, and how law and medicine can have a more productive discussion about applying the concept in a way which better secures the interests of those whose capacity to make relevant decisions may be un...

In this ‘in conversation’ with Dr Joe Gough , we discuss some of the fruits of his British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Oxford looking at legal and medical assessments of decision-making capacity, how they misfire for the neurodivergent and cognitively disabled, and how this should inform philosophical accounts of agency and autonomy. In this conversation, we look in partic...

In this ‘in conversation with,’ I talk to Nick Robinson, Professor Judy Lain g, and Dr Jeremy Dixon about the website that they have recently been involved in setting up providing resources for nearest relatives under the Mental Health Act 1983. Nick gives the perspective of a nearest relative, Jeremy explains the research underpinning the project, Judy explains the resources available, and all th...

In this ‘in conversation with,’ I talk to the lawyer and academic Dr János Fiala-Butora about his new book, Implementing the Right to Decide under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Supporting the Legal Capacity of All Persons with Disabilities (Hart, 2025). We think about the debates around legal capacity in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and di...

In this ‘in conversation with,’ I talk to Professor Gareth Owen about his new book Psychiatry and Human Nature: Classic and Romantic Perspectives , and he helps unpack what ‘classic’ and ‘romantic’ mean in this context, moving into deep waters around capacity and risk to others as we go. The work that we discuss around mental capacity in the second part of the discussion can be accessed via this w...

Following on from my videos about  capacity  and  best interests , this video seeks to put those concepts to practical application. The slides are  here . Boring but necessary caveat: nothing in this constitutes legal advice

In this ‘in conversation’ with, I talk to Dr Susannah Bowyer, Deputy Director at Research in Practice, about the recent  research paper  published by Research in Practice and the National Children’s Bureau (commissioned by DfE) entitled (snappily)  Improving the outcomes of looked-after children and young people in complex situations with multiple needs, at risk or subject to a Depr...

In this ‘in conversation with,’ I talk to Peter Edwards, a solicitor who has just passed his 50 year mark working in mental health (and, since it became a ‘thing,’ mental capacity law), and who has had quite the most extraordinarily varied and significant impact in ways that you might not be aware of. The article that I mention which sets out some of the things that he has done is  here...

In this ‘in conversation with,’ I talk to  Professor John Coggon  about his – deliberately! – provocative new paper  Is Mental Capacity Law Law? . We think about what ‘law’ means in this context, and what judges are doing in legal terms when they are judging in the Court of Protection. And I charge John with nihilism… The original video is here .

In this ‘in conversation with,’ I talk to  Professor Peter Bartlett  about his article “ Beyond the liberal subject: challenges in interpreting the CRPD, and the CRPD’s challenges to human rights ,” and discuss how the CRPD challenges conventional civil and political rights, the implications for the role of the state (and what happens if the state is not benign), and what the CRPD requir...

In this ‘in conversation with,’ I talk to  Jess Foulkes ,  Dr Suzanne Beeke  and  Dr Anna Volkmer  about their paper in the International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders,  Using Conversation Analysis to explore assessments of decision-making capacity in a hospital setting . We explore what ‘conversation analysis,’ means, and how it helps shed li...

In this 'in discussion with,' I talk to Professor Anne-Maree Farell and Dr Patrick Hann, two of the co-authors of this paper recently published in the Medical Law Law Review, " Mental health and capacity laws in Northern Ireland: examining the position of children and young people ."  We examine the (complex) story of law reform in this area in Northern Ireland, think about unfinished busines...

In this ‘in conversation’ with, I talk to  Professor Beverley Clough  and  Dr Laura Pritchard-Jones  about the edited collection that they have recently pulled together on Mental Capacity Law, Sexual Relationships and Intimacy. We talk about the background to the book, including the  JB  case, and the different perspectives that it brings to the – possibly? – int...

In this 'in conversation' with, I talk to Dr Victoria Bradley, Clinical Lead for and Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, about choices in palliative care, honesty in discussions and the allocation of responsibilities between doctors and patients (and attorneys). For the original video, see here: Palliative care, choices and honesty – in conversation...

The Law Commission published its consultation paper on disabled children's social care on 8 October.  I am a consultant to the project.   In addition to the various other ways in which to get yourself up to speed with the consultation, I have recorded a walkthrough. The original video walkthrough is here: Disabled children’s social care law in England – the Law Commission consults –...

In this ‘in conversation’ with, I talk to  Hillary Chua  of the National University of Singapore about a  recent article  in the Medical Law Review that she has co-authored with Camillia Kong and Michael Dunn, looking at how essentially identical mental capacity legislation in Singapore and England & Wales has had very different lives in both jurisdictions. We also thi...

In this ‘in conversation with’, I talk to  Dr Harleen Kaur Johal , a doctor and PhD candidate, about her research as part of the BABEL project into conflict in the ICU. We discuss her interviews with patients, their family members / representatives and clinicians, and think about some of the ways in which conflicts can arise, how they can be managed, and issues which can arise when peopl...

In this 'in conversation with', I talk to the very recently retired police officer, Michael Brown - the Mental Health Cop, about the police, the MCA 2005, the red herring of 'capacity to commit criminal offences,' and the complexities of emergency situat

In this 'in conversation' with Professor Rosie Harding , we talk about the Co-Producing Accessible Legal Information (COALITION) Project, which has recently published its concluding report (and accompanying Easy Read version). We talk both about how to conduct co-produced research, the barriers to accessing justice for those with learning disabilities, and how lawyers can help begin to play their...

In this ‘in conversation’ with, I talk to  Professor Michael Preston-Shoot  about the second national analysis of safeguarding adults reviews he recently led with  Professor Suzy Braye . We talk about the background and context, and he draws out some of the key themes, before we conclude with asking whether SARs actually achieve anything. The three reports coming from the analy...

In this ‘in conversation with’, I talk to  Jacob Jorem , a Norwegian psychiatrist, lawyer and researcher, about the Norwegian experience introducing decision-making capacity into (at least part of) mental health law, why the result of a process designed to reduced coercion was a very significant increase in the number of involuntary orders made, and how to assess why and how legal changes imp...

In this “in conversation with”, I talk to Dr Jim Down about a whole host of matters related to intensive care, inspired by his recent book,  Life in the Balance . We cover the realities of being in ICU, the interaction between law and ethics, and get into a discussion about the need for honesty about resource allocation (including touching on this paper about deliberative democracy and t...

To mark 10 years since the publication of the report of the House of Lords select committee convened to conduct post-legislative scrutiny of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, Dr Margaret Flynn , Chair of the National Mental Capacity Forum, joins me in the shed. Our conversation examines where the Act came from, and how we are (or are not) making progress in making it an Act which matters. For the orig...