Tool, Constraint, Liability, Context

Abstract

Abstract The everyday practice of emergency psychiatry involves a blend of clinical skills and legal knowledge. Perhaps more than any other clinical specialty, emergency psychiatry is beholden to the use of legal processes as a fundamental tool for ensuring that people in need of care are helped and that their civil rights are protected. Significant variation in rules and standards across jurisdictions complicates an already perilous balance between autonomy and beneficence. In addition to primary tools such as voluntary and involuntary commitment, emergency psychiatrists routinely work with important standards relating to confidentiality and duties to third parties. Furthermore, although psychiatry and emergency medicine are not frequently sued specialties per se, the psychiatric emergency service poses special risks for malpractice liability.