Consent to electroconvulsive therapy: investigation of the validity of a competency questionnaire.

A valid consent is a necessary precondition to the administration of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). However, the assessment of mental competence to consent may be both complicated and controversial because neither case law nor statutes provide a clear description of the necessary mental abilities. The closest approximation in the literature is that derived from judicial commentary on the relevant case law and summarized into four standards. …