Legal and professional boundaries: a case study

Abstract

Abstract published with permission. There are multiple legal issues which dominate the work of paramedics and healthcare professionals alike. For those professionally registered, such as paramedics, there is an added obligation of professional boundaries. This article will examine possible legal and issues within a hypothetical case study and discuss the possible conflicts associated with these issues. The article considers a range of legal and professional aspects which may crop up in the pre-hospital care environment including capacity to consent, informed consent, acting in the best interests of a patient, rights of a foetus, infant preservation, duty of care and negligence. Within pre-hospital care there is a necessity to make rapid decisions based upon these laws, and therefore it is important that all practitioners consider these.