Citation

Thomson AB, McAllister E, Veale D. Emerg. Med. J. 2020; 37(6): 331-344.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, BMJ Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1136/emermed-2019-208974

PMID

32487706

Abstract

A 38-year-old professional is brought in by police extremely distressed and in pain. She reports intense feelings of contamination over her arms and torso and fears that this is spreading and killing other people or animals. She has tried neutralising this contamination by applying concentrated sodium hydroxide (figure 1). She was taken to various emergency departments (ED) 39 times in the last 8 months and has a history of serious overdoses requiring intensive care unit admission. She says she did …

Language: en

Keywords

mental health; diagnosis; burns; emergency department utilisation; self harm