I previously wrote about a case from WA that caused concern amongst WA medical, nursing and security practitioners – see No power to detain a patient just because it’s good for them (January 22, 2023) and “Medical law expert issues warning to WA hospital staff over patients who want to leave” (June 22, 2023).

Because of the interest in this case I was approached by colleagues from QUT and the Australian College of Emergency Medicine to write an article to guide decision makers in these difficult situations. The article has now been published and with support from the University of Melbourne is available as a free access article. The citation and link are:

Kelly, A.-M., Eburn, M., Cockburn, T. and Senthi, A. (2023), Review article: Detaining patients against their will: Can duty of care be used to justify detention and restraint in emergency departments?. Emergency Medicine Australasia. https://doi.org/10.1111/1742-6723.14299

I was also invited by the Australian College of Emergency Medicine to take part in a Webinar with Dr Senthi. You can view that webinar here – https://vimeo.com/854216186/49c3a4283b

This blog is made possible with generous financial support from the Australasian College of Paramedicine, the Australian Paramedics Association (NSW), Natural Hazards Research Australia, NSW Rural Fire Service Association and the NSW SES Volunteers Association. I am responsible for the content in this post including any errors or omissions. Any opinions expressed are mine, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or understanding of the donors.