“There is a rule of life far higher than professional etiquette—a duty that every right-minded man owes his neighbour—to prevent the destruction of human life.”
“Sign an urgency certificate, so that the patient can be detained in his own house legally. Any step which is taken, which is in good faith, with the intention of certifying, is justified, and is covered by the law.”
Attempted suicide.
Special care must be taken to prevent a further attempt by constant unobserved watching. Delirious, melancholic, suicidal, and mentally defective patients are preferably placed on the ground floor.
3. Where a patient dies suddenly from a cause which is obviously not the one under treatment—as when anæsthetized, or after an operation.
Enumerate to the friends the possible explanations of the fatal issue. Affirm that there is no reason to have expected any one of them, and that all the usual precautions had been taken.
Report to the Coroner, or advise, where such report is considered unnecessary, that an anatomical post-mortem examination should be conducted for the satisfaction of all parties concerned.
VII. SOME STEPPING-STONES OF MEDICAL EVIDENCE.
1200 Pledge to answer truly appears.
1215 Trial by Ordeal abolished.