Prob. Code, § 813 · Part 17. LEGAL MENTAL CAPACITY
Prob. Code, § 813
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) For purposes of a judicial determination, a person has the capacity to give informed consent to a proposed medical treatment if the person is able to do all of the following:
(1) Respond knowingly and intelligently to queries about that medical treatment.
(2) Participate in that treatment decision by means of a rational thought process.
(3) Understand all of the following items of minimum basic medical treatment information with respect to that treatment:
(A) The nature and seriousness of the illness, disorder, or defect that the person has.
(B) The nature of the medical treatment that is being recommended by the person’s health care providers.
(C) The probable degree and duration of any benefits and risks of any medical intervention that is being recommended by the person’s health care providers, and the consequences of lack of treatment.
(D) The nature, risks, and benefits of any reasonable alternatives.
(b) A person who has the capacity to give informed consent to a proposed medical treatment also has the capacity to refuse consent to that treatment.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 1996, Ch. 178, Sec. 6. Effective January 1, 1997.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB§ionNum=813.
- Text hash
- sha256 4716dd88653952a3f79609711b2612a348788cfb6a83350cc1f29d33ba43189d
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
Cited by 3 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Prob. Code, § 813. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.