When patients behave badly: Consent, breach of the duty of care and the law.
- Resource Type
- Article
- Authors
- Kelly, Anne‐Maree; Cockburn, Tina; Madden, Bill
- Source
- Emergency Medicine Australasia. Feb2021, Vol. 33 Issue 1, p172-174. 3p.
- Subject
- *NEGLIGENCE
*CORRUPTION laws
*INFORMED consent (Medical law)
*INVOLUNTARY hospitalization -- Law & legislation
*VIOLENCE against medical personnel
*CAPACITY (Law)
*HOSPITAL emergency services
*LEGAL liability
*ORGANIZATIONAL behavior
*RESTRAINT of patients
*PATIENT decision making
*LAW
- Language
- ISSN
- 1742-6731
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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]