title: Advice on the medicolegal aspects of attendance at road accidents.
abstract: There is no strict legal obligation to render aid at the scene of an accident but in (rightly) doing so, one risks medicolegal consequences. An appropriate principle would be: 'A person is liable if he or she undertakes to perform a voluntary act and performs it improperly but not if he or she neglects to perform it'. No liability attaches to an error of judgement. The fear of litigation over negligence should never deter a medical practitioner from giving assistance in an emergency. The practitioner at an accident must observe the usual professional requirements: the 'duty of care' must be discharged by avoiding unreasonable risk, foreseeing the potential of the treatment and maintaining the standard of conduct of one's comparable peers. The doctor may not withdraw his care from the patient until it is possible to do so without increasing the risk to the patient or until he or she can do no more for the patient. (Thus, the best management is to arrange for rapid transfer to appropriate and adequate facilities.)
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D001315:Australia; D005392:First Aid; D006801:Humans; D008318:Malpractice / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D010820:Physicians