ABSTRACT
You are the surgical FY1 on call. A patient comes in acutely unwell with severe abdominal pain. He is reviewed by your seniors, who tell him he needs an operation to investigate the cause of his symptoms. They ask you to obtain consent for laparoscopy and a laparotomy and proceed. When you see the patient he is still in pain and he tells you that he is aware he needs an operation but just wants them to get on with it. He says he does not want to know what risks there might be, ‘You do whatever is best, doctor’.
