Decision Report 201803475

Summary

Ms C complained about the care and treatment she received when she was admitted to A&E at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. In particular, that she had been catheterised without her consent and against her will. She also complained that unnecessary restraint had been used.

We took independent advice from a consultant in emergency medicine. We found that the care and treatment given to Ms A was reasonable, and that the history, examination and investigations had been appropriate and reasonable. In particular, we found that this had been a potentially life threatening emergency and the decision to insert a catheter had been reasonable. We considered that it was extremely unlikely that Ms C would, at that time, have had the capacity to consent to medical treatment. As such, an adult with incapacity assessment had been completed before the decision to insert the catheter had been made. We also found there was no evidence in the medical records that unnecessary constraint had been used. We did not uphold Ms C's complaint.