Some decisions that relate to a person’s health cannot be made by a guardian appointed to make health care decisions for an adult or a person’s attorney for health matters when the relevant person has impaired capacity to provide consent themselves. The law identifies those particular medical procedures and health care as special health care.

Special health care of an adult is health care of the following types:

• Removal of tissue from the adult while alive for donation to someone else;
• Sterilisation of the adult
• termination of a pregnancy of the adult
• participation by the adult in special medical research or experimental health care;
• electroconvulsive therapy or a non-ablative neurosurgical procedure for the adult
• prescribed special health care of the adult