Self-Harm

While you are working in Accident and Emergency (A&E) on a Sunday afternoon you are asked to see Naomi, a 15-year-old ‘regular attendee’. No one else wants to see her. Naomi is very subdued and has a deep cut along the top of her thigh. Her legs and arms are crisscrossed with scars. She asks you to just hurry up and ‘practice your suturing’ so that she can get home in time for a family roast. You are concerned about her blasé attitude to her injuries. Looking through the notes you discover this is her 18th attendance to A&E in the past 6 months for similar treatment. You try to talk to Naomi about why she self-harms. Naomi is surprised, as no one has asked her this before.

• How should patients who self-harm be managed?
• What can be done to prevent a ‘revolving door’ system of hospital admissions?

Apply Theory (Specific Professional Healthcare Competencies + Clinical Medical Ethical Principles) to Practice in order to provide Optimal Patient-Centered Care (OPCC)

Source – Ethics Case Studies from Clinical Ethics and Law (Second Edition), Carolyn Johnston Penelope Bradbury