Ethical responsibility on emergency calls—group

Press, 5 March 1987, Page 25

Ethical responsibility on emergency calls—group

PA Wellington Doctors have an ethical responsibility to respond to all emergency calls, says the Medical Association’s ethical committee. A doctor would be correct to inquire about the circumstances of a case, but where an emergency appeared to exist it was the ethical duty of a doctor either to respond in person or to ensure that the patient received adequate attention from other sources within a reasonable time, the committee says.

It expresses its view in a letter in the latest “New Zealand Medical Journal.”

The letter was

prompted by the recent case of a rural general practitioner found guilty of professional misconduct The doctor had refused to see a former patient who had collapsed from a severe heart attack and was dead by the time an ambulance reached him. The Medical Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee ruled that although the patient probably would not have survived, the doctor, who was not named, should have seen him.

Clarifying a doctor’s responsibility, the ethical committee said the International Code of Medical Ethics said that "a doctor must give the necessary

treatment in an emergency unless he is assured that it can and will be given by others.” The General Medical Council’s ethics handbook also says that while a doctor is free to accept or refuse any person as a patient, there are professional obligations in emergency cases.

The handbook says; a doctor is bound to provide any treatment immediately necessary in an emergency, and to ensure that arrangements are made for any necessary further treatment Professional obligations also apply in isolated communities where a doctor is the only source of medical advice.