Coercive measures in general hospitals on non mentally-ill patients
Results Nihil volitum quem prae cognitum. Information on intrinsic elements of the consent of the patient for the medical act showed the physician's high importance in the definition of lex artis ad hoc. According to the High Court, other actions not specified habitually in texts should be considered as coercive measures (e.g. no information to patients from health staff). The catalogue should be opened to: involuntary admission, non-wished stay, non-wished medication or treatment, seclusion, chemical coercion and no information. The profile of the patient subject to coercion has been studied previously. We developed a complementary profile: age 71–80, lives alone, confused state, with neurological or respiratory disease, applied in the first 48 hours, by nursing staff, with a low perception of coercion, during the night, without patients' and/or relatives' opinion, without information to doctors or directors, without information to Court, without previous training, without taking care of the frequency whereupon they take place.