Healthcare professionals under pressure in involuntary admission processes Susanne van den Hooff* MSc LL.M, Carlo Leget † PhD and Anne Goossensen ‡ PhD *Lecturer, Legal and Ethical issues, MFR, Inholland University of Applied Sciences, Alkmaar, † Professor, Ethics of Care and Spiritual Counselling, and ‡ Professor, Care Ethical Aspects of Informal Care, University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht, The Netherlands Abstract The main objective of this paper is to describe how quality of care may be improved during an involuntary admission process of patients suffering from Korsakoff’s syndrome.It presents an empirically grounded analysis with different perspectives on ‘doing good’ during this process. Family carers’, healthcare professionals’ and legal professionals’ ways of understanding and ordering this problematic situation appear very dif- ferent.This could prevent patients from getting the proper care they need, with risk of more suffering and quality of life below the minimum accept- able.All this possibly lead to immoral dehumanizing situations.Firstly,the background of our empirical study is sketched. Secondly, the different perspectives on ‘doing good’ are summarized and compared.Thirdly, the tensions arising from the different conceptualizations of autonomy and different types of responsibilities of the actors are clarified. A common ‘doing good’ during involuntary admission necessitates removal of any tensions within the relational network by weighing and balancing the different perspectives on autonomy and the resulting responsibilities. With this in mind, we propose a renewed time/action table for involuntary admission, which tends to address all patients’ needs at the right time.The solution presented might help healthcare professionals,who are squeezed in between patients, family carers, legal professionals and overall rules, to create practices in which patients suffering from Korsakoff’s syndrome can maintain their dignity and receive the care they need. Earlier inter- ventions, timely and adequate diagnosis, and diminishment of tensions between the different actors by fine-tuning their paradigmatic frame- works are suggested to be part of a solution. Keywords: autonomy, involuntary admission, Korsakoff’s syndrome, long-term care, recognition, responsibility. Correspondence: Mrs Susanne van den Hooff, Lecturer in Legal and Ethical issues at the University of Applied Sciences Inholland, Esdoornlaan 18, 1829HG Oudorp (NH), The Netherlands. Tel.: 0031611449751; e-mail: susannevdhooff@gmail.com Original article doi: 10.1111/nup.12096 177 © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Nursing Philosophy (2015), 16, pp. 177–186