Background and experience
I graduated from the University of Oslo as a M.D. in 2013. Since then, I have been working as a hospital doctor, and I finished my speciality in pediatrics in 2022. Currently, I am working part time at the pediatric department in Kristiansand while doing my research at the University of Agder.
I began my journey as a Ph.D student in ethics at the University of Agder in 2025. I am working on my research project tentatively titled "You cannot force me! Professional ethical challenges in the treatment of young people who self-harm" (For more information, see below).
My previous academic experience is quite limited. As a medical student, I was a part of a larger research group on The Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, doing lab research on the effect on anti-oxidants on muscular adaption to exercice.
The interest in medical ethics presented itself quite early in my career, and I have been a member of the Clinical Ethics Comittee at SSHF since 2017. This year, I was also elected as one of the members of the National Council of Medical Ethics.
Areas of responsibility
I am doing my ph.d. at the department of religion, philosophy and history. My area of interest is medical ethics, and especially how the knowledge from the academic world can be applied in a clinical practice.
Research
Abstract:
Self-harm amongst young people is disturbingly common, affecting between 10 and 20 % according to international studies. Repeated self-harm is not just “a cry for help”, it is an important risk factor for suicide. The problem comes with great costs for society, and even greater suffering for the patients and their families.
When young people who self-harm is brought to the emergency room after potentially life-threatening events, for example intoxications, the doctors who treat them face several ethical dilemmas. For example, they will have to weigh the legal obligation to save and protect lives against the patient’s autonomy, and evaluate what is best for the patient, not just in the emergency setting, but in the long run. This includes the potential need to use force if the patient doesn’t consent to treatment. To treat the patient against their will can very well seem necessary to save their life; but may inflict harm in the long run, taking away from the process where the patient learns to make good choices for themselves. For the doctor on call, these decisions can be morally challenging. To add to the pressure, the decisions will often have to be made in a setting where time is a limiting factor and other patients are waiting for necessary treatment.
Despite that these situations are common, it seems to be a lack of consensus on how to best handle these patients in an emergency room setting. We also know little about what resources doctors working in emergency rooms have to navigate these situations.
The research object in my ph.d. project is the situation that arise when a young person comes to the emergency room after a potentially life-threatening act of self-harm and the ethical dilemmas that come into play in this situation. I am investigating the research objects through four research questions:
1. What knowledge is there about the ethical dilemmas that arise when treating self-harm in the emergency rooms, and the doctors’ abilities to resolve these?
2. How do patients who have been hospitalized due to self-harm reflect on their encounters with the health-care system in these situations?
3. How do doctors working in hospitals reflect on their own practice and attitudes towards this patient group?
4. Using the knowledge from RQ 1-3; what professional ethical perspectives can contribute to better the treatment of young people who self-harm?
In addition to a scoping review (RQ1), I will perform qualitative interviews with former patients (RQ2) and doctors (RQ3) to help inform a normative professional ethical discussion. The aim is to point out professional ethical perspectives that can better the treatment of this patient group, and to do so based on empirically informed arguments.