Facebook flirts propositioning doctors
Facebook details of 100 million users published on net
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By Adam Leveridge. |  |
Wednesday, 02, Dec 2009 12:04
By Sarah Garrod.
Facebook is being used by patients to send flirty messages to their doctors, the Medical Defence Union (MDU) has said today.
The MDU is warning medics not to respond to the "amorous approaches" of their patients, saying it would be "wholly inappropriate" to do so.
The medical organisation said they were aware of a number of cases where patients had propositioned doctors, by sending them an unsolicited message on Facebook, or other social networking sites.
The MDU advises that responding to patients in this way may be seen as overstepping the professional boundary of the doctor/patient relationship.
Dr Emma Cuzner, MDU medico-legal adviser, whose article on the hidden dangers of social networking appears in the latest edition of the MDU Journal, said: "The pitfalls posed to doctors using social networking sites by inadvertently breaching confidentiality or posting unprofessional content, such as photos, have been well documented. But doctors may be less prepared for patients using sites like Facebook to ask them out on a date.
"Some doctors have told the MDU they feel it would be rude not to reply, if only to politely refuse, but given that this is not a professional route of communication, any correspondence of this sort would clearly stray outside the doctor/patient relationship."
In one case highlighted in the MDU Journal, a female GP was asked out for a drink by a patient as she left her surgery. When she declined, the patient started pestering the doctor via Facebook and sent her a bunch of her favourite flowers, lilies, which he had ascertained from her freely available Facebook page. The MDU said they helped the GP nip the patient's advances in the bud, and also suggested she considered employing some of the security and privacy settings on the site.
In a separate study in the journal, Karen Roberts, MDU clinical risk manager, reviews claims and complaints about women's health made against GPs.
During the five-year period of the study, there were 48 complaints about the use, or more usually the absence, of a chaperone for an intimate examination. The majority of complainants alleged an inappropriate examination had taken place or that no chaperone was offered, although six patients complained about the presence of a chaperone or that the doctor would not perform the examination without one.
The MDU advises doctors that, as well as offering a chaperone for intimate examinations (of the breast, genital or rectum), communication is often the key to avoiding such complaints.
Dr Cuzner added: "We are advising our members about the importance of keeping relationships with patients on a professional footing. This is in line with doctors' ethical duties not to pursue improper relationships with patients. Doctors could face a GMC investigation if they are accused of overstepping the boundary.
"They have a duty to maintain the public trust in the profession at all times, in their professional and private lives and not only when at their place of work."