AlphaMED Resources · https://alphamedicine.uk/Resources/best-interests

Best interests

Best interests is the test used to make a decision for someone who cannot make it themselves.

Updated 12 October 2026 (1 minute read)

Summary

  • It applies to children and to adults who lack capacity.
  • It is wider than medical benefit. The patient's own wishes, feelings, beliefs and values must be considered, and the people close to them consulted.
  • If doctors and the family cannot agree, a court decides.

Interview questions

  • Who decides what is in a child's best interests?
  • Is keeping a patient alive always in their best interests?
  • How would you find out what an unconscious patient would have wanted?

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Cases that turn on it

Indi Gregory and best interests Autonomy Indi was eight months old and had a disease with no cure. Her parents wanted treatment to continue, and a hospital in Rome offered to take her. Judges in England ruled that it was in her best interests to stop.

More NHS hot topics, medical ethics case studies and medical school interview questions are in AlphaMED Resources, which we add to and update through the application cycle.