Ethical and medico-legal issues are embedded within the nature of emergency medicine. Issues surrounding competence, end of life care, and the right to refuse care are encountered daily within the emergency department. Of growing significance are the ethical issues and legal obligations that surround the Mental Health Act, as increasing numbers of suicide attempts and self-harm are seen in the emergency department. The Wooltorton case of 2007, in which a patient arrived at the emergency department post overdose with a note specifying her request for no interventions, highlights the dichotomy that often exists between a physician's ethical obligation to "do no harm" and the legality of a patient's right to refuse.
Ethical and medico-legal issues are embedded within the nature of emergency medicine. Issues surrounding competence, end of life care, and the right to refuse care are encountered daily within the emergency department. Of growing significance are the ethical issues and legal obligations that surround the Mental Health Act as increasing numbers of suicide attempts and self-harm are seen in the emergency department. The Wooltorton case of 2007, in which a patient arrived at the emergency department post overdose with a note specifying her request for no interventions, highlights the dichotomy that often exists between a physician's ethical obligation to "do no harm" and the legality of a patient's right to refuse.