Year: 1981 Source: Annals of Emergency Medicine, v.10, no.7, (1981), p.389 SIEC No: 19841185

This article deals with the medical implications in the emergency department of dealing with a patient who talks about suicide. Guidelines are presented for handling this type of situation. Certain questions should be asked, such as: why the patient is bringing up the subject, has the patient contemplated suicide before & is there a prior history of psychiatric illness. Based on the patient’s answers, the doctor can hospitalize the patient, request a psychiatric consultation or discharge them.