Background

An unnamed 19-year-old male has sustained a stab wound to the abdomen. He was attended to by paramedics following an anonymous call. One of the paramedics, Craig, arrived to find him alone and, on initial assessment, the mechanism of injury appears to be a stabbing inflicted by another person. However, the patient tells Craig that he sustained this injury by accidently stabbing himself with a knife.

The patient is brought to the local accident and emergency department where Dr Piper is a consultant. Craig tells Dr Piper that there have been three other stabbings in that area in the last two weeks, two of which have been serious. Craig believes they may be gang related.

Having treated the wound and made sure the patient is stable, Dr Piper asks the patient if he was stabbed by someone else. The patient insists the injury is the result of an accident and says that he doesn’t want the police involved.