title: Duty of care or a matter of conduct -- can a doctor refuse a person in need of urgent medical attention?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Medical practitioners may have their particular skills called upon outside a direct professional context. The responsibilities of medical practitioners outside their defined scope of clinical practice may not be clear to all clinicians.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To consider the possible legal consequences of a doctor refusing to assist a person in need of urgent medical attention both in terms of medical negligence and professional misconduct.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Where an established clinical relationship does not exist, and a doctor does not wish to render aid, three particular scenarios may arise. A doctor may actively deny being a doctor, passively avoid identifying themselves as a doctor or acknowledge being a doctor, but refuse to render assistance. Aside from any ethical issues, how a doctor chooses to act and represent themselves may lead to different legal ramifications. There exists significant variation in state provisions relating to legal obligations to render aid, which may benefit from review and revision at a national level.
authors.affiliation: is a medical student in the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences, and a law student in the Faculty of Law, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dean
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mahar
authors.forename: Erwin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Loh
authors.forename: Karinne
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ludlow
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D004630:Emergencies; D006801:Humans; D010820:Physicians / Q000941:ethics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D028743:Professional Misconduct / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D016079:Refusal to Treat / Q000941:ethics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*