Dunedin barrister Alison Douglass, who specialises in health and disability law, made that point yesterday.
The 2014 New Zealand Law Foundation International Research Fellowship winner travelled
to the United Kingdom and recently completed a review of New Zealand's adult guardianship law concerning people with impaired mental capacity arising from dementia, learning disabilities, mental illness or brain injury.
``Mental Capacity - Updating New Zealand's Law and Practice'', has just been published.
Her research involved comparative analysis of the English Mental Capacity Act 2005 and its Code of Practice.
She is calling for a comprehensive update of New Zealand's adult guardianship law, the 1988 Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act, to bring it in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Much could be learnt from how the law had developed in this area in the UK.
People should be supported to make decisions for themselves where possible, she said.
New Zealand's law had been enacted 30 years ago and was ``inadequate to respond to the explosion of elder care and the needs of older adults''.
``Changes in the law are important now because of the ageing population and prevalence of Alzheimer's disease,'' she said.
Liberty and freedom of movement were ``fundamentally important'', yet there was ``no legal process governing loss of liberty for some people who lack capacity to make decisions about their healthcare and living arrangements''.
This included people who were not subject to compulsory care under mental health law but lived in secure dementia units, or were high-needs young adults with learning disabilities living in supported care in the community.
