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When patients behave badly: Consent, breach of the duty of care and the law
Author(s) -
Kelly AnneMaree,
Cockburn Tina,
Madden Bill
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
emergency medicine australasia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.602
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 1742-6723
pISSN - 1742-6731
DOI - 10.1111/1742-6723.13692
Subject(s) - medicine , duty , informed consent , context (archaeology) , duty of care , standard of care , law , medical emergency , alternative medicine , surgery , paleontology , pathology , political science , biology
Patients who are abusive or aggressive in ED raise special clinical and legal challenges. These include what steps clinicians should take to exclude serious illness/injury as the cause of the behaviour and when investigations or treatments can be imposed on these patients without their consent. Using a case illustration, this paper discusses legal issues which arise in this context, including how the standard of care owed by clinicians is determined and what may constitute a breach of duty; such patients' right to consent to (or decline) tests and treatment; and when clinicians may lawfully act without consent and/or control the patient's behaviour.