Law enforcement information gathering in the emergency department: Legal and ethical background and practical approaches.

Abstract

In the course of legal investigations, law enforcement officers may enlist emergency department (ED)personnel to gather information or forensic evidence, often with the intent of building cases against a patient. These situations create ethical conflicts between the emergency physician'sobligations to the patient and society. This paper provides an overview of the ethical and legal considerations in ED forensic evidence collection and the general principles that emergency physicians should apply in these situations.