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Singapore’S Adult Guardianship Law And The Role Of The Family In Medical Decision-Making, Hang Wu Tang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Singapore’s adult guardianship law was derived from the Mental Capacity Act in England and Wales. This article explores the process of how Singapore’s Mental Capacity Act was adapted and fine-tuned to operate in a jurisdiction with different cultural conditions, religions, familial norms, and social institutions. The first part of the article demonstrates that despite its apparent similarities, the policymakers in Singapore have omitted crucial portions of the Mental Capacity Act which deal with the human rights of persons lacking capacity. This omission is unsurprising considering Singapore’s history of advancing an Asian values approach to human rights. In the second part, …