Photo: Getty ImagesNot only does the health system need to get ready for the ageing population but so does the legal system, Alison Douglas says. Ms Douglas wrote a report for the Law Foundation two years ago which said the country's adult guardianship law, the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act, was out of date - especially considering people were living for longer. "There are many people who have impaired capacity for decision-making, with dementia for example, and are particularly vulnerable in the health system," she said. "There is a need for a legal framework to better serve and promote their interests as well as the many challenges and inefficiencies of working within the current law." "There are also liberty issues at stake, for example the basis upon which we admit people who do not have capacity or competence to consent to admission to a secure dementia unit."

Source: Otago Daily Times March 16, 2018 16:52 UTC