There are a lot of good reasons not to let your spouse, girlfriend/boyfriend, or sexual partner also be your doctor (or dentist), but this does strike me as retarded:
One rabble-rouser calling for change is Burlington dentist Larry Pedlar, who, for half a century, counted his wife among his patients. A year ago, he was mortified to learn that if he continued doing this he could be found guilty of sexual abuse and have his licence pulled for five years.
That’s when the Ontario Court of Appeal issued a decision saying that the province’s Regulated Health Professions Act makes it clear that health professionals cannot have sex with their patients. The appeal court was ruling on a case involving a Waterloo chiropractor who had treated his girlfriend. The chiropractor was found guilty of professional misconduct for sexual abuse and lost his licence.
Since the act also applies to dentists, the profession’s regulatory college and professional association immediately put word out to their members, warning that the ruling could have implications for them.
“If I treat my wife, it means I am sexually abusing her,” says an incredulous Pedlar, 72. “It means I would be an outlaw.”
I expect more from Canadians.
Clancy is not and never has been my doctor. If something is wrong, she’ll check me out, but that’s about the extent of it. Callie is the first place that I have even sought care where Clancy works, primarily because it’s one of only two hospitals in town. I met my doc while Clancy was interviewing here and took a liking to him. Previous to Callie, I either didn’t have a doctor (Cascadia) or had a doctor in a completely different town (Estacado and Deseret). But the main reason why I wouldn’t want Clancy to be my doctor is that I wouldn’t want one relationship to interfere with the other (and it can be randomly* problematic if she’s writing me prescriptions).
But dentists? I don’t see a real problem there. They just clean and fix your teeth and mouth. Obviously, there are stories of dentists doing bad things while a patient is under anesthesia, but that’s something of a different bird.
* - I say “randomly” because there’s no rule against it, but if we were to relocate to another state, that state’s medical board could have a problem with it if it’s forbidden there even if it’s not forbidden where she did it.
I expect more from Canadians.
Like this?
“If I treat my wife, it means I am sexually abusing her,” says an incredulous Pedlar, 72. “It means I would be an outlaw, eh?”
Besides, they’ve been married for fifty years. Isn’t whether he could lose his license for having sex with her kind of an academic question at this point?
Comment by Brandon Berg — April 20, 2011 @ 7:15 pm
this does strike me as retarded
You don’t call retarded people “retards”. That would be in bad taste. You call your friends “retards” when they’re acting retarded.
–Michael Scott, The Office, “Gay Witch Hunt”
Comment by Mike Hunt — April 20, 2011 @ 10:19 pm
Off the main topic, perhaps, but one of my physicians once told me that he never treats his own child: too much emotional involvement. He said he needed another doctor to give him exactly the same counsel as he himself would give any other parent.
Comment by ? — April 21, 2011 @ 6:47 am