Should violent patients be denied help?

Question

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/6396603.stm

Answer 1

No question... absolutely YES!
It is about time that people began to take responsibilities for their actions.
Drug abuse is no excuse for anything. The Government and Police should have a zero tolerance position for anyone who violates anyone who is trying to assist them... be is in the NHS, The Police or any member of society.

Answer 2

Interesting article you linked to.

I can't speak for Scotland (nor even the USA really), but here is my opinion if this case was in the United States..

If the person in your article is still in custody, the authorities are required to escort and watch over the subject in the hospital. If he is not in custody the hospital has the right to refuse treatment if they reasonably believe the man is a threat, even if the treatment is life saving. Given the article and his history of attacks I think the hospital has a reasonable case to deny treatment. This is murky though, and there are grounds for reasonable disagreement.

Thus, a reasonable (I seem to like that word!) course might be to hire the extra staff and equiptment, but to charge the patient for the extra costs. I'm not sure that can be done in a governement run health care system as found in Scotland.

Answer 3

vilent patients cannot be helped if they are violent.
first the violence needs to be treated.
imaginewhat they are like in amongst tghe public,and there families.
imagine how sick they really are to enter a hospital for treatment and then treat the staff with violence.
Some of these cases should be given carefull consideration because of the mixed culturs in hospitals,and that the staff may not show any tolerance to a person they see as different,and just dismiss them and call the over zealous security we have spread all over london who are too quick to show aggression to the public.
I try to see both sides of the coin,and we have a problem in london with hospital security and security everywhere,they are too quick to man handle the public who they see as vulnerable to tgheir maccho,and racist attitudes.

Answer 4

There is a real grey area in a situtation like this. As someone mentioned - in the US if a person is in custody then the authorities are responsible for guarding him during treatment.

As a health care worker I can tell you that getting assaulted in the performance of my duties is not as uncommon as people might think.

There are people who are unable to control their outbursts, but there are just as many who are just violent evil people. I think that in the case of mental illness mental handicap then by all means we need to treat them.
The ones who are just violent for violence sake - then no we should not have to treat them. There are logical consequences for our personal actions, and if we cannot act civilized then people should not be forced to do things for us.
I have been hit, slapped, kicked and berated by people who are clearly not mentally ill - just jerks. The verbal is one thing - but once you lay your hands on me then no I should not be forced to "help" you any longer. People need to be responsible for their actions.

Answer 5

this is a difficult question because some mentally ill patients are violent and cannot help it, or do not know the consequences of their actions. If the violence is due to alcohol or drugs then maybe.

Answer 6

Just being violent is a mental sickness,that have to be treated also. Help shouldn't be denied to no body, that's the reason it is called HELP!

Answer 7

yes. We all have the right to work in a safe enviroment health officials are no exception. If you are violent towards other people you don't deserve the time of day, never mind treatment.

Answer 8

Yes and No. Your health is the most important thing in life but staff don't have to tolerate violence.

Answer 9

Yes, I work in this area, and i would flat-out refuse to treat anyone who threatened me. I don't go to work to be assualted, i go to work to help people.

Answer 10

yes