Competence to consent to treatment and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Competence to consent to treatment plays a central role in medical treatment and research. It is frequently argued that this concept is incompatible with the equal recognition of legal capacity guaranteed by article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We aim to give an overview of the controversy and the concerns voiced against the interpretations given in General Comment No. 1 from a psychiatric perspective. We then attempt to clarify the German term for competence to consent to treatment (Einwilligungsfähigkeit), differentiating between legal and mental capacity (decision-making capacity). © 2017, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.