Abuse of the Doctor-Patient Relationship
Published on 1. November 2010
Book
Paperback/Softback
252 pages
978-1-904671-37-4 (ISBN)
Description
The doctor-patient relationship is fraught with risk. Patients may be at risk from a doctor who misuses their position of authority, or is unclear where the appropriate boundaries lie. Doctors risk disciplinary or criminal proceedings when this happens. This book aims to address these risks, to assist clinicians in their daily relationships with patients, and to improve patient safety. The authors examine the ethical principles and how these may be taught; prevalence of abuse; regulation and sanctions; management and governance; remediation; and the roles of the different organisations that may be involved, such as the General Medical Council and medical protection societies. This is a practical guide to help clinicians avoid boundary violations and improve patient safety.
Reviews / Votes
'This book clearly maps the territory in the complex areas of boundaries between patient and professional (all regulated healthcare professions, not just doctors). Experts are drawn in from general practice, psychotherapy, sexual therapies and nursing; obstetrics and gynaecology; as well as teachers, ethicists, medical managers and healthcare regulators. ... The book contains important guidance on the prevention of boundary violations that vulnerable doctors can blunder into, perhaps due to a sometimes toxic combination of over-enthusiasm and naivete.' British Journal of PsychiatryMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Dimensions
Height: 232 mm
Width: 153 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
444 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-904671-37-4 (9781904671374)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Fiona Subotsky is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, King's College Hospital, London. Susan Bewley is a Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at St Thomas' Hospital, London. Michael Crowe is a private Consultant Psychiatrist specialising in sexual and relationship therapy, working in London.
Content
Foreword; Introduction: mapping the territory; 1. Ethical principles and professional trust; 2. The patient's perspective; 3. Teaching ethics and ethical behaviour to medical students; 4. With the benefit of hindsight: lessons from history; 5. The prevalence of boundary violations between mental health professionals and their patients; 6. Psychiatry: responding to the Kerr-Haslam inquiry; 7. The general practitioner and abuse in primary care; 8. Boundaries and boundary violations in psychotherapy; 9. Sexual therapies: vulnerabilities and boundaries; 10. Obstetrics and gynaecology: a special case?; 11. Nurses as abusers: a career perspective; 12. Medical management: governance and sexual boundary issues; 13. Dealing with offending doctors: sanctions and remediation; 14. Defending doctors: the protection society's experience; 15. Regulation and its capacity to minimise abuse by professionals; 16. The role of the General Medical Council; Appendices: 1. Vulnerable patients, safe doctors: good practice in our clinical relationships; 2. Maintaining boundaries; 3. Other psychiatric codes; 4. Examples of sexualised behaviour by healthcare professionals towards patients or their carers; 5. Fitness to practise cases; 6. Web resources.