15th March 2022

You are a medical student, shadowing an A&E registrar

You are a medical student, shadowing an A&E registrar. You observe as they assess an adult patient with learning difficulties, who has sustained a head injury following a fall. The registrar decides that the patient requires a CT scan to rule out an intracranial haemorrhage, and explains this to the patient. The patient declines to have the scan. The registrar escalates the situation to the consultant in charge, explaining that due to the patient’s learning difficulty he does not have capacity to make this decision.

Which of the following statements about this case is most correct?

Select the SINGLE most appropriate option from the list below. Select ONE option only.