In circumstances where health decisions (lifestyle decisions and consent to medical, dental and healthcare services generally) need to be made for a patient who no longer has capacity (this may be a temporary emergency or due to long-standing health issues), a substitute decision maker or a guardian may need to make decisions for the patient.
An appointed decision maker can be a person (eg family member, friend) or a body (eg public guardian).1 The legislative requirement for substitute decision making varies in each state and territory in Australia, and unfortunately there is no consistency in terms across jurisdictions (eg an enduring guardian in one jurisdiction may be a health attorney in another). This chapter outlines the legislation, define the different levels of decision-making power and provides other resources for guidance on guardianship.