Is This Doctor-Patient Marriage Unethical?

I shouldn't have been surprised that the most read posts on this blog have been about doctor-patient sex. When I recently had occasion to review these posts a comment I received on April 23 last year caught my attention:

Let us face it squarely. There are only 4 women that a newly qualified overworked doctor intern is exposed to: a fellow doctor (usually out of reach), a nurse (may lead accusation of sexual harassment) a bar waitress (usually not of the best social character) and the patient. I chose the latter and am happily married to her for 8 years. Did I breach the ethics? Can a distinction be made between sexual attraction and real love?

In my response I made an initial sortie into the connection between professional ethics and the ethics of personal relationships. But in retrospect I wish I'd been clearer:

Congratulations on 8 happy years of marriage. I don't know what area of medicine you're in, and what its code of ethics states. In my own specialty - psychiatry - the code asserts that sex with current or former patients is unethical. So if you're a psychiatrist, the code answers your question - you did breach the ethics of the specialty....

So - you may have violated the ethics of your area of medicine, but I'm guessing that you and your wife distinguished right from the start between "real love" and "sexual attraction." You have 8 years of evidence that you got it right! For you as individuals the professional ethics precept would have been a bad guide. 

Suppose the ethics committee of the former intern's medical specialty were asked to review the ethics of the relationship he formed with his patient 8 years ago. For my specialty (psychiatry), the answer would be unambiguous. Forming a romantic or sexual relationship with a current or former patient is defined as unethical.

Given that he violated the ethics of his specialty, should he be disciplined?

If there had been no problems in his medical practice in the subsequent 8 years I think the right outcome would be (a) to reaffirm the correctness of the ethical standard but (b) to find a way of not disciplining him, while (c) being careful not to set a precedent that undermines the standard.

The rationale for defining romantic/sexual relationships with current and former patients as unethical is twofold: to protect patients from the harms that these relationships can cause, and to prevent the loss of trust in the profession that would accrue if the public concludes that physicians are prepared to exploit patients for personal gain, as by "hitting" on them. The former intern's happy marriage isn't evidence against the standard. The standard doesn't claim that every doctor-patient romantic/sexual relationship will result in harm, just that we know that harm is a significant possibility and is difficult to predict. And the happy marriage says nothing about the overall trustworthiness of the profession.

If this was a current question for a physician with no pattern of exploitation, an ethics committee might require an extended period of supervised practice. Assuming the former intern has practiced in exemplary fashion for 8 years, that would exceed what a probationary period would entail. As a member of the specialty society it's important for him to understand and support the ethical precepts of the society. As a response to the violation that occurred 8 years ago, the ethics committee might ask the former intern to write an essay on how he would respond to a colleague who asked him: "Look how well your doctor-patient relationship worked out - why should I follow the ethical standard on this?"

If the intern's medical specialty and medical society held the same standard as the American Psychiatric Association, the relationship he formed with his patient violated the ethics of the profession. But his report of 8 years of happy marriage suggests that the ethics of his personal relationship is excellent. The professional and personal domains overlap, but not totally. Four years ago I argued that the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm did the right thing in expelling a medical student who had been convicted of murder 8 years earlier, even though he performed competently in his student role.

In the U.K. the medical profession does not have a blanket ethical rule against romantic/sexual relationships with former patients. The General Medical Council (GMC), whose role is to "ensure proper standards in the practice of medicine," has formulated guidance about professional boundaries in terms of personal ethics. Recast to eliminate reference to the doctor-patient relationship, the values in the GMC espouses could form the basis of a high school or college class on relationship ethics:

• You must not pursue a sexual relationship with a former patient, where at the time of the professional relationship the patient was vulnerable, for example, because of mental health problems or because of their lack of maturity.
• Pursuing a sexual relationship with a former patient may be inappropriate, regardless of the length of time elapsed since the therapeutic relationship ended. This is because it may be difficult to be certain that the professional relationship is not being abused.
• If circumstances arise in which social contact with a former patient leads to the possibility of a sexual relationship beginning, you must use your professional judgment and give careful consideration to the nature and circumstances of the relationship, taking account of the following:
     (a) when the professional relationship ended and how long it lasted
     (b) the nature of the previous professional relationship
     (c) whether the patient was particularly vulnerable at the time of the relationship, and whether they are still vulnerable
     (d) whether you will be caring for other members of the patient's family