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, it will be demonstrated that Singapore’s Mental Capacity Act has been interpreted by some healthcare professionals through the lens of relational autonomy in certain circumstances to accommodate a family-centric mode of decision-making. The appeal to relational autonomy may be explained on the centrality of the family in the lived reality of most persons in Singapore. In this regard, this article argues that a formal protocol should be drafted to guide healthcare professionals in navigating the tricky minefield of furthering a person’s autonomy while recognizing the centrality of the family in certain contexts.

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新加坡成人监护法与家庭在医疗决策中的作用

新加坡的成人监护法源自英格兰和威尔士的《心智能力法》。本文探讨了新加坡的心智能力法如何被调整和微调以在具有不同文化条件、宗教、家庭规范和社会制度的司法管辖区运作的过程。文章的第一部分表明，尽管有明显的相似之处，但新加坡的政策制定者忽略了《心智能力法》中涉及缺乏能力者的人权的关键部分。考虑到新加坡推动亚洲价值观处理人权的历史，这种遗漏不足为奇。在第二部分，将证明新加坡的心智能力法已被一些医疗保健专业人士通过关系自主的视角在某些情况下进行解释，以适应以家庭为中心的决策模式。对关系自治的诉求可以解释为家庭在新加坡大多数人的生活现实中的中心地位。在这方面，本文认为应该起草一份正式的协议，以指导医疗保健专业人员在提高个人自主权的棘手雷区中导航，同时承认家庭在某些情况下的中心地位。