The phrase "a competent individual" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it to describe someone who has the necessary skills, knowledge, or ability to perform a task effectively.
Example: "In our search for a new project manager, we are looking for a competent individual who can lead the team to success."
Alternatives: "a capable person" or "an adept individual."
A competent individual has the right to refuse treatment, which few would argue with.
Under present DPP guidelines, in existence since 2010, it is most unlikely, in England and Wales, that a relative or close friend, "wholly motivated by compassion", would be prosecuted for assisting in the suicide of a competent individual who has "a terminal illness, a severe and incurable physical disability, or a severe degenerative physical condition".
'Hard' paternalism, in contrast, involves interfering with the liberty of an individual in order to promote their interests, despite the fact that the action being interfered with is the result of an informed and voluntary choice by a competent individual.
Moreover, privacy as control of information is connected to informed consent, the "[a]greement to a certain course of action, such as treatment or participation in research, on the basis of complete and relevant information by a competent individual without coercion" (Global Network 2015: 29).
'Advance directives' are directions given by a competent individual concerning what and/or how and/or by whom decisions should be made in the event that, at some time in the future, the individual becomes incompetent to make healthcare decisions.
As one of us has recently argued (Savulescu 2013, 53): It is paternalistic to act to restrict the liberty of a competent individual in his or her best interests.
Different versions of the threshold approach propose somewhat different thresholds for when the current interests of a formerly competent individual cease to be authoritative.
In short, on this alternative view, the capacity to value marks the morally crucial threshold above which the current interests of a formerly competent individual remain authoritative for the surrogate's decisions and the conflicting interests of the earlier self can be set aside.
At the core of that approach is the view of the child as a capable, competent individual.
184 That consent is subject to three conditions: first, it must be uncoerced; second, it must result from the decision-making capacity of a cognitively competent individual; and third, it must be informed.
Salmonella gastroenteritis in an immune competent individual does not normally require treatment, and there are no trials in the HIV population to guide the management of patients with CD4 < 200 cells/μL.
