Right of withdrawal for non medical staff in psychiatry: causes and consequences of exercise

Abstract

Nowadays, the right of withdrawal is being exercised and highly publicized in many professions.
Though, it does not seem to be that way in the public hospital.
We were therefore very surprised when at the beginning of a weekend in a public psychiatric department, the non
medical staff claim to exercise its right to withdrawal while an act of violence had been committed, leading them
to refuse to take care of a patient.
This situation led the director to force doctors to substitute to nurses, caregivers, agents of hospital services.
As doctors had no alternative proposal and had to ensure continuity of care and supervision needed from a patient
in isolation, they therefore have been trapped all weekend long by the exercise of the withdrawal right, which need
to be better known.