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Original poster

do you think doctors should be banned from dating patients

18 replies

PitysSake · 27/08/2009 19:29

is the the norm everywhere
This woman sounds abit of a woman scorned imo

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/humber/8225130.stm

OP posts:

TheArmadillo · 27/08/2009 19:38

yes I do think they should be banned from dating patients.

I don't think it should be a lifetime ban - but maybe they should have to have a gap of a couple of years between treating them and dating them.

Overmydeadbody · 27/08/2009 19:39

No I don't think so.

ILikeToMoveItMoveIt · 27/08/2009 19:43

I haven't read the article, but no I don't think so.

However as soon as Dr/patient relationship becomes a personal one then I think the patient should change GP.

Geocentric · 27/08/2009 19:46

Maybe it depends on the speciality? I'd be a bit about a psychiatrist dating a patient, but not an orthopedic doctor, or a heart specialist, for example.

thisisyesterday · 27/08/2009 19:46

i don't think they should be banned from dating someone they meet via their job

however, if they do start dating someone they should no longer be their GP.

i thought it was the case (but may be wrong) that doctors are not allowed to treat their own families. so this is virtually the same surely- wife/girlfriend make sno difference

mayorquimby · 28/08/2009 10:22

no don't think they should be banned. and the woman in the story linked sounds like a child making up ridiculous excuses when they get caught doing something wrong and try to absolve themselves of any blame.

they're both adults and she chose to have an affair with him, and even fuck him with her husband in the same building. sounds like she's been caught out for being a disgusting person and is trying to save face by looking to lay the blame else where.

i'd imagine he's trying the exact same thing with his wife "oh she did all the chasing i couldn't resist". when they're both to blame.

pooka · 28/08/2009 10:27

Yes they should be banned from having sexual relationship with patients. I thought it was ever the case - if a doctor starts a relationship with a patient, they change doctors.

Not sure why feel so vehement about this. Just do, regardless of how horrible the patient was in this case, the doctor was unprofessional to say the least. And her being unsympathetic character doesn't absolve him of failing to follow protocol.

AMumInScotland · 28/08/2009 10:33

Anyone in a position of trust and authority should be banned from having a sexual relationship with their patients/pupils/clients, as there is a risk of blurring the relationship, and vulnerable people can be abused. If they feel they are likely to get into a relationship, the patient should change gp.

TheFallenMadonna · 28/08/2009 10:44

Dating? Don't know.

Having sex during a consultation? I'd say that was professional misconduct.

bumpsoon · 28/08/2009 11:53

It is completely wrong for a dr to have a relationship with a patient.

bigstripeytiger · 31/08/2009 16:57

Its completely wrong, and an abuse of power for a doctor to enter into a sexual relationship with a patient.

GMC guidelines specifically forbid this sort of relationship:

Good Medical Practice

edam · 02/09/2009 11:53

Bigstripey's right.

Doctor mate of mine ditched her boyfriend. His parents threatened to report her to the GMC, even though she had had no professional links with the man at all!

HerBeatitude · 02/09/2009 14:03

I don't think they should be banned, it infantilises patients and implies that they have no agency in their lives.

In seeking to "protect" them from doctors, it reinforces the idea of a doctor's godlike status.

Yes of course there have to be safeguards and rules, but to say a doctor should never, ever be able to have a relationship with someone who happens to be a patient, is a bit heavy handed. I agree with muminscotland once you're actually in a relationship it would be inappropriate to continue to have a professsional relationship, but to ban it altogether strikes me as treating patients like helpless children. And the less the medical profession are encouraged to do that, the better IMO.

dittany · 02/09/2009 14:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HerBeatitude · 02/09/2009 15:19

LOL but the thread isn't just about this case (obv, it was professional misconduct) or about whether dodgy doctors should be allowed to work their way through their vulnerable patient list for dates, it's about whether they should ever be able to date a patient who is not vulnerable, but an equal, compos mentis adult.

I think they should, as long as they don't continue to have a professional relationship with the person involved and as long as the rules to protect vulnerable patients are strong enough.

What are the rules anyway? Is a doctor ever allowed to date someone who is or was a patient? What about someone who was on their list but isn't now? Or who have relatives on the list but aren't themselves?

bigstripeytiger · 02/09/2009 15:44

I dont think that it is always the case that you cantdate someone who had been a patient in the past. If you were, for example, a GP in a rural area, you might find that everyone for miles around was your patient (even if you had never met some of them!).

As far as I know normal practice in that sort of situation would be for the patient to register with another practice, so that the person they wanted to have the relationship was no longer their doctor.

HerBeatitude · 02/09/2009 16:02

Hmm that's an interesting one, I suppose that might be quite difficult in a rural area. Even in my town, there are only 3 doctors available for me to register with. If I wanted to shag each of them, I'd have a problem getting a new GP...

Not that I'm thinking of working my way through the medical register in this town...

bigstripeytiger · 02/09/2009 16:13

Also, if you look at the right hand side of the page I linked to there are some case examples of doctors referred to the GMC because of sexual behaviour with patients.

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