Open AccessPatient Threats Present an Ethical Dilemma for the Anesthesiologist
Author(s) -
Joy S. Pollard,
Michael W. Brook,
Audrey Shafer
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
anesthesia and analgesia/anesthesia and analgesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.404
H-Index - 201
eISSN - 1526-7598
pISSN - 0003-2999
DOI - 10.1097/00000539-200112000-00043
Subject(s) - medicine , medical emergency , ethical dilemma , phone , harm , staffing , informed consent , hallucinating , dilemma , sedation , nursing , surgery , alternative medicine , philosophy , epistemology , political science , law , linguistics , pathology , artificial intelligence , computer science
Patients who receive sedation occasionally divulge thoughts that they would not usually express. This report describes a sedated patient who threatened to murder two family members. Immediate consultation with an attorney and psychiatrist is recommended when the anesthesiologist may be required to breach patient confidentiality to warn potential victims.