The duty of care concept is a common law legal principle which underpins all healthcare interactions. However, evidence within the Australian context suggests misuse of this common law principle as a justification for non-consensual coercive treatment. Misuse seems to occur particularly where patients have impaired decision-making capacity and/or refuse treatment. In this article, we discuss the emerging evidence of misuse, which arguably reflects healthcare practitioner confusion between the doctrines of ‘duty of care’ and ‘necessity’, and posit that cognisance of lawful substitute consent processes are lacking. We then discuss the concept of duty of care as an obligation, as opposed to a power, before presenting the elements of a valid consent and legislation relating to substitute consent, which allow health practitioners to proceed with treatment. We conclude this article with a discussion of the circumstances where treatment may be given without consent.

护理义务概念是普通法的法律原则，是所有医疗保健互动的基础。但是，在澳大利亚范围内的证据表明，滥用这一普通法原则作为非自愿强制治疗的理由。滥用尤其是在患者决策能力受损和/或拒绝治疗的情况下似乎会发生。在本文中，我们讨论了滥用的新证据，可以说是反映了医疗从业人员在“护理义务”和“必要性”两个学说之间的混淆，并假设缺乏对合法替代同意程序的认识。然后，在介绍有效同意的要素和与替代同意有关的立法之前，我们先讨论谨慎义务是一种义务，而不是一种权力。这使保健医生可以继续治疗。在本文的结尾，我们讨论了未经同意就可以给予治疗的情况。