Can an unnecessary intimate examination by a doctor be ‘sexual misconduct’ if there is no sexual motivation?
The allegations about doctors who worked for Mohamed Al Fayed raise broader questions about how we define sexual misconduct in healthcare, and whether a health professional's motivation should matter.
The General Medical Council Says Relationships With Former Patients “May Be Inappropriate”. But Who Gets to Decide?
At Opening Up, our analysis of doctor misconduct has repeatedly identified sexual boundary violations as a significant source of patient harm. The General Medical Council’s (GMC) guidance on relationships with patients lacks clarity and relies too heavily on doctors to interpret ethical boundaries for themselves.
1,000 Reports but Only 53 Sanctions: Sexual Misconduct and Abuse by Doctors
The gap between number of complaints about sexual misconduct and abuse by doctors, and number of sanctions seems staggering but looking at these numbers in isolation is a mistake; they don’t even begin to tell the full story.