Good medical practice involves “never using your professional relationship to establish a sexual, exploitative or inappropriate relationship with any individual under your care.” This includes patients, those who are close to the patient, such as their guardians, spouse, or the parent of a child patient. Sexual misconduct is an exploitation of the doctor-patient relationship. It weakens the trust and confidence of patients in their doctors.
In this regard, the Medical Board of Australia has recently released new sexual boundary guidelines to address medicolegal concerns. These guidelines clarify the definition of terms and discuss the potential harms of breaching boundaries in the doctor-patient relationship. The guidelines state that doctors are expected to act in their patient’s best interests and not use their position of power and trust to abuse patients physically, sexually,…
