centered image

centered image

Green light for doctors to date former patients

Discussion in 'Doctors Cafe' started by Hala, Mar 27, 2015.

  1. Hala

    Hala Golden Member Verified Doctor

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2013
    Messages:
    1,685
    Likes Received:
    619
    Trophy Points:
    4,075
    Gender:
    Female
    Location:
    Cairo
    Practicing medicine in:
    Egypt

    Doctors are to be allowed to strike up relationships with their former patients.

    New guidelines from the General Medical Council say they can pursue such a romance as long as they use their ‘professional judgment’ to decide if it is appropriate.

    Until now, the watchdog has banned doctors from having relationships with any patients, even those they have not treated for some time.

    The General Medical Council's new guidelines allow doctors to start relationships with former patients

    A number of senior doctors had warned that such partnerships were ‘flawed’ and risked under- mining the public’s trust in the profession.

    The guidance, issued yesterday, tells doctors they cannot initiate ‘sexual’ or ‘improper’ relationships with current patients. But it tells them they can date former patients, as long as they give ‘careful consideration’ to certain factors.

    These include the number of consultations they’d previously had with the patient and the length of time since their last appointment.

    It states: ‘If you are considering whether to pursue a personal relationship with a former patient, you must use your professional judgment.

    ‘Although it would not be possible to specify a length of time after which it is acceptable to pursue a relationship with a former patient, it is reasonable to expect that the more recently a professional relationship ended the less likely it is to be appropriate to begin a personal relationship with the patient.’

    The updated guidelines are contained within the doctors’ handbook, Good Medical Practice, and will come into force next month.



    Doctors should only start a relationship with a former patient if they have used their 'professional judgement' to decide if it is appropriate and are still banned from 'improper' relationships with current patients (file picture)

    Patient groups welcomed the change saying it was about time the watchdog moved into the 21st century.

    Joyce Robins, of Patient Concern, said: ‘I don’t see any problem with it if they are no longer their doctor.

    ‘I think it was all a bit of an old-fashioned idea quite honestly.

    ‘It seems sensible. They are getting into the 21st century and it’s a good updating.’

    Some senior GPs, however, have previously warned that such relationships are always ‘flawed’. Dr Surendra Kumar, a GP who practises in Widnes, Cheshire, said: ‘Consider the powers of the doctor. This is the only profession of which a member can ask a person to take their clothes off and find the request usually met with few questions and no resistance.’

    In a previous interview with GP magazine Pulse, he said: ‘A proper emotional and sexual relationship is a partnership of equals, both parties enjoying the same rights, privileges and limitations.

    ‘Any other basis for a relationship is flawed and needs to be criticised and resisted most vehemently.

    ‘It is vital proper boundaries are maintained in relationships between doctors and patients.’

    But Dr Tony Grewal, a senior GP who practises in West London, said the watchdog ‘should not limit the capacity of two consenting adults to explore a relationship’. Speaking to Pulse at the time, Dr Grewal added: ‘An absolute ban on sexual relationships with patients or former patients is an unfair limitation on the right to pursue happiness for doctors and patients alike.

    ‘We need new, authoritative public guidance which acknowledges the changes of the last 20 years, maintains the necessary safeguards for the vulnerable against exploitation or coercion, but gives a framework for those who wish to develop proper relationships.’

    In 2011, a poll of 282 GPs by Pulse found that half wanted the rules to be changed allowing them to have relationships with former patients.

    Some 2 per cent admitted they had begun relationships with patients they were still treating.
    [​IMG]
    source
     

    Add Reply

Share This Page

<