Curious, what happens if one of your neighbours has a mental health crisis?

[Ceke2002]

Do you guys get involved even if they're not your patient? I mean is it like the same situation if someone collapses in the street and you perform CPR, does being a Psychiatrist present at a mental health crisis situation automatically behoove you to state who you are and render assistance?

One of our neighbours just got detained and carted off to hospital under the mental health act after a suicide attempt (preceeded by an hour of incoherent drunken screaming from one end of the street to the other). We've had police, and ambulances, and distraught teenage children worried for their mother, the whole nine yards. It just made me think, what if a Psychiatrist lived on the same street as me? Would they have been obligated to get involved in the situation?

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[wolfvgang22]

Sure. I try to be a Good Samaritan and do what I can. I have done this for car accidents, falls, panic attacks, syncope, cardiac arrest, intoxicated persons, suicidal persons before. I call 911 first though, and don't approach anybody that is very aggressive or who may have a weapon. I'm honestly not sure how legally obligated I am to respond, but the one or two times I hesitated and allowed some one else to take the lead I felt terrible. So I feel somewhat ethically obligated to help if I can safely. So far, things have turned out well except for one or two unpreventable deaths (massive PE, MI). Nobody has ever said anything, except for one smart ass fire fighter one time when I helped a drunk man who fell down in a busy road way.

 

[bd290]

Most Good Samaritan laws that I'm aware of protect you if you do help but I'm unaware of any that compel you to act/mandate that you do so. My state is also not the best example of average though. You can make an ethical obligation argument but I doubt there is a legal one.