Dr. Karena Hanley:

It is important in dealing with a woman presenting with a crisis situation to be absolutely non-judgmental and to allow the woman space to consider all options. One must ensure she has considered all options and there is a legal obligation in that regard. It is not the case that we can ever say "I cannot help you access services elsewhere" because we are allowed to provide information, which can be very useful to the woman. We cannot write a referral letter or tell the woman what it might cost to access those services elsewhere but we can direct the woman where to find that information. However, there are certain cases where this information would be of no use to the woman because, for one reason or another, she cannot travel. These are clearly very distressful situations to deal with.