Patient care on the ramp: Who is legally responsible?

Emerg Med Australas · Dec 2024

Patient care on the ramp: Who is legally responsible?

Ambulance ramping, the delay to transfer of a patient arriving at an ED by ambulance into an ED treatment space and handover of care to ED clinicians, is a problem in all Australian states and territories and New Zealand. It is a symptom of ED overcrowding and access block and has been associated with adverse health outcomes for some patient groups. The questions arise, who might be legally responsible for the care of patients who are ramped and does their physical location matter? The short answers are 'everyone' and 'no', however, whether there will be a breach of duty depends on the reasonableness of responses and resource allocation considerations.

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- Michael Eburn, Tina Cockburn, and Anne-Maree Kelly.
- Centre for Law and Justice, Charles Sturt University, Canberra, New South Wales, Australia.
- Emerg Med Australas. 2024 Dec 3.
AbstractAmbulance ramping, the delay to transfer of a patient arriving at an ED by ambulance into an ED treatment space and handover of care to ED clinicians, is a problem in all Australian states and territories and New Zealand. It is a symptom of ED overcrowding and access block and has been associated with adverse health outcomes for some patient groups. The questions arise, who might be legally responsible for the care of patients who are ramped and does their physical location matter? The short answers are 'everyone' and 'no', however, whether there will be a breach of duty depends on the reasonableness of responses and resource allocation considerations.© 2024 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.

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Patient care on the ramp: Who is legally responsible?

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