The suicidal patient in the ED

Abstract

Health professionals faced with suicidal patients need to assess the short-term suicide risk. This task is related to the fear of a wrong judgment, the liability aspect, including the fear of litigation should the patient die by suicide. When the issue is directly addressed, patients often deny suicidal thoughts or plans. The same is true for suicide risk scales, which are not reliable for short-term suicide risk assessment. There is yet another problem: When considering psychiatric hospitalization, clinicians should be aware that inpatient care does not protect patients from suicide.