h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Health professionals are to be issued guidelines barring relationships with ex-patients. Intended as a reaction to cases of sexual abuse, is this not using a sledgehammer to crack a nut? Is it actually a breach of Human Rights?

How far can an employer reasonably intrude into the private lives of employees?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6544011.stm

Banning relationships with existing patients is reasonable... but ex-patients? Seems a bit silly to me.

May well depend on the nature of the previous provider-user relationship. If a dentist takes a fancy to a former dentee, big deal. If a CPN hits on a former service-user, or a gyno on a familiar old , then that might raise legitimate questions about their reasons for doing the job. A ban would be unworkable, but guidelines seem reasonable.

Perhaps it's to do with not abusing access to information in order to create a relationship e.g. using medical records to look up the address & phone number to contact someone you fancy.

Can't see that it matters if you encounter someone socially that turns out to be an ex-patient.

As opposed to finding out their name and looking them up in the phone book? And should you also consult your records every time you meet someone, just to make sure you didn´t treat them once several years ago? It seems like a very stupid idea.

"Is this too intrusive?"

No.

These are guidelines for a basic ethical and professional ethos. Respect of the professional and therapeutic nature of the relationship. And not using a position of trust and respect to abuse the vulnerable.

"These are guidelines for a basic ethical and professional ethos. Respect of the professional and therapeutic nature of the relationship. And not using a position of trust and respect to abuse the vulnerable."

It's banning *any* relationship, though, not just those that are abusive (which would be breaking the law anyway). I don't really understand the logic behind this at all. It's essentially saying that any medical professional's relationship with an ex-patient is essentially an abusive one and needs to be prevented. That strikes me as utterly absurd.

I always understood that a doctor who fancied a patient (and vice versa) had to send him/her to another practitioner, but after s/he was a patient elsewhere, a relationship could go ahead. Is it proposed to change this?

It's not a *ban* though, it's a redress of the criteria for deciding whether or not a relationship would be appropriate. You can't *ban* it, any more than you can stop a bear from sh!tting in the woods.

Well you cant ban dogs from fouling the footpath but you can make it illegal.

As part of the child protection changes we had new laws applied to us a few years back one of the changes said: If you have professional contact with a young person you can not have a an intimate relationship with them for two years after htey have become 18 or until two years have elapsed from your last professional contact, whichever is the longer.

As a professional you can influence someones life quite dramatically. Ive been aked to write references for colleges, passports, letters of recomendation for jobs and housing applications. I get to decide who goes on trips for free and who has to pay.

Now this might not be a big deal to me and you but to some vulnerable people or people without a wide range of people they can go to for help it can make you avery important person in their lives.

So I think its sensible and fair to say that workers and volunteers in such positions should exerceise a level of ethical behaviour above and beyond that of the public.

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