At this point, my senses and rationality came back to me. The issue at hand is on confidentiality.“Tham, I've got a question for you. You free to talk now?”
“Errmmm… yeah. What’s up?”
“I’ve got a patient here, XXXX overdose.”
“What’s that??”
“Oh, alright... Got a patient here, admitted for overdose. Claims her husband’s got an affair with her sister-in-law who’s 14.”
“Uh huh?”
“What you reckon? Should I report it to the police?”
“So you’re trying to nail the fella down for statutory rape right? But then it’s only hearsay. Did she see the ‘act’ herself? Allegations of affair does not necessarily mean XXXX (censored for the benefit of those who are below 18), though it normally does. What does your supervisor say?”
“Supervisor says she's not gonna report it. But yeah, the patient claims she saw them XXXX.”
“Right. Think you should let her know of the options and leave it to her to decide on whether or not to make the report.”
Sigh! Such a straightforward medical ethics issue, yet I read way beyond the lines! I think I’m getting an overdose of CLP; Evidence and Criminal Procedure.
Lesson learnt: Don’t over-analyse matters.
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