Author: Eoin Colm Brendan Harty / Editor: Steve Fordham / Reviewer: Caitriona Considine, Srikanth Padmanabhan / Codes: A4 / Published: 15/10/2022
Paul, a 52-year-old electrician, has been in your department for three and a half hours with a presenting complaint of abdominal pain.
He has no previous medical history, medications or allergies. He normally resides with his mother but she has recently been taken into care.
While taking your initial history, you build up a rapport with him and he eventually admits to being very unhappy since his mother left. Further direct questioning reveals that he took an overdose of aspirin tablets with the intention of killing himself.
