The ability to make a voluntary, informed healthcare decision is referred to as:

• A. Informed consent
• B. Medical record documentation
• C. Patient capacity
• D. Restorative justice

Answer: (C)

The ability to make a voluntary, informed healthcare decision is referred to as capacity (also called decisional capacity or competence). Capacity is about whether a person can understand relevant information, appreciate the consequences of choices, reason about options, and communicate a clear decision. It is a prerequisite for valid informed consent: without capacity, consent cannot be properly given, and a surrogate may be involved. Informed consent, by contrast, is the actual act of agreeing to treatment after being informed, which depends on the patient having adequate capacity. The other terms shown—medical record documentation and restorative justice—do not describe the person’s ability to decide. Documentation is about recording what happened, and restorative justice relates to resolving disputes and harms, not individual decision-making.