Stem actually states, “On questioning, the patient does not know the date [time], the name of the hospital [place], or the name of her nurse who had just introduced himself [person].” So, pt is disoriented to time and place (Choice A); that is definitely concerning -- as would be depressed mood (Choice E) and the other choices -- but “inability to understand severity and prognosis” is the most concerning since that is the very definition of capacity. Inability to understand = lack of capacity.

I obviously thought that the main thing for capacity is to understand the severity and prognosis of her medical condition BUT I thought this was a trick question because they asked "if the mental examination finding showed..." and the stem failed to mention anything about her orientation to place or time. dumb

Time, place, name → assesses orientation → to see if pt is for example intoxicated or not

Decision making capacity is based off of whether the patient understand her diagnosis and is making an informed consent → she knows and understands