ABSTRACT

The interaction of law and psychiatry is very visible in the emergency department and in emergency situations. The clinician in this environment has an obligation to see every patient about whom such a clinical decision must be made. He or she cannot rely solely on information from other professionals, nor upon telephoned information from family, another institution or the police. An intentional tort is an act performed upon a patient without his or her actual or implied consent. This area would include such things as operations, blood transfusions, or administering medications the patient clearly did not want. Negligence, or malpractice, results when a practitioner had a duty to treat a patient, when either an affirmative act or a passive act abrogated that duty, and when that breach of duty harmed the patient. The emergency situation provides wide latitude for the physician and staff regarding informed consent. Again, documentation of staff response and information provided to the patient is paramount.