Private or intimate relations between doctor and patient: is zero tolerance warranted?

Private or intimate relations between doctor and patient: is zero tolerance warranted?

This article reviews and comments on the five categories of arguments used to defend zero tolerance with regard to sexual contacts resulting from the physician-patient relationship as summarised by Cullen. In addition it puts forward a hypothesis-"fear of loss by third party"-as a psychological explanation for the collective insistence on a zero tolerance policy.

Trust and distrust between patient and doctor.

To trust someone is to have expectations of their behaviour; distrust often involves disappointed expectations. But healthy trust and distrust require a good understanding of which expectations are reasonable, and which are not. In this paper, I discuss the limits of trustworthiness by drawing on recent studies of trust in the context of defensive medicine, biobanking and cardiopulmonary resusc...

Is a pacemaker implantation warranted in this patient?

Internal loop recorders (ILRs) are frequently implanted in patients with syncope or paroxysmal tachycardias. Built-in auto-activation algorithms are not perfect, but have much improved in the newer, smaller devices. We report a case of a 64-year-old patient with recurrent syncope and ILR which detected an atrioventricular block III8 while the patient was asymptomatic. Would you proceed with pac...

[Sexual contact between doctor and patient].

Codes of medical practice forbid a doctor to have sex with a patient. Still, practice and attitudes turn out to be unruly, so there is a need for (public) discussion and education. Moreover, other professional limitations in the doctor-patient relationship (e.g., 'non-medical' physical contact, dating a patient, accepting gifts from a patient, and treating partners, family-members and friends) ...

The doctor-patient relationship: friend or adversary?