Healthcare and decision-making in dementia Consent to medical
treatment The WGBO  , which came into force on 1 April 1995,
deals with the issue of consent. Article 450 states that
procedures carried out for the purpose of implementing a
treatment contract shall require the consent of the patient. If
the patient is over sixteen or cannot be considered capable of
reasonably assessing his/her own interests with regard to
treatment, the care provider and the patient's guardian ,
mentor, spouse, parent, child or brother/sister may base their
decisions on an advance directive (please see the section on
advance directives). Kees Blankman (1997) provides the following
explanation of how consent is handled in case of an
incapacitated adult: “The introduction of the WGBO illustrates
the conviction in the Netherlands that, in general, medical
treatment takes place within an agreement, the rights and duties
of which are governed by law. If a patient requiring treatment
is incapacitated and cannot give his informed consen