Can I Date My Doctor?

Outright it sounds just wrong! In actuality, you can date your doctor, kind of. Being a doctor involves a lot of ethical beliefs and statements. The oath they take as they get their degree is held to the highest degree of importance.

What Does The Law Say About Dating Your Doctor

According to the American Medical Association, a physician must end the doctor-patient relationship well before asking the patient out on a date. Developing a relationship with a patient can lead to nightmares for the physician. There is no defense in a case of a former patient making a claim against a physician. Even if it was a consenting relationship, it is ethically wrong.

This is stated as though all patients are in a vulnerable position when they are seeing a physician. No matter the reason they are there, it is considered to be a vulnerable patient. The AMA notes that a relationship, even after the patient and doctor relationship has ended, can be taken as the patient had been unduly influenced due to the previous medical relationship.

What needs to happen is the physician needs to end the patient relationship and pass the patient on to a different physician. The Medical Association is still fuzzy on what may or may not happen then. It is considered that waiting at least 6 months is appropriate before asking the person out.

The Problems With Dating Your Doctor

To many, this may seem not very clear, if not blown out of proportion. However, imagine a case where a patient has had pain for years, and the doctor she had been seeing had done nothing as far as helping. The patient goes for a second opinion at a different medical clinic and sees the doctor. Within a week, the x-rays, scans, and all other tests have been completed, and the result is astounding. The patient had their thyroid so swollen that it had been growing around the larynx, causing all the pain and discomfort.

If the doctor and patient begin dating, is it due to how vulnerable the patient was and how relieved and thankful she feels after the surgery was completed? This is what is meant by vulnerable, in layman’s terms. This is the issue for physicians dating patients. What is considered vulnerable as far as a patient?

For this reason, the guidelines are not the same for every physician. If a physician treated a patient three years ago and not seen since dating could be considered appropriate. There is also the possibility of small-town areas, where everyone knows each other. There could be a chance of attending school sports, churches, or other community events at the same time. In smaller rural areas, this can not be changed. Another reason things are debated on a case to case basis.

However, even with a six month period of waiting, this is an arbitrary time. One will not know if the previous medical relationship has any play in the current personal relationship. The major understanding across the board is that there are generally no issues noted, no claims filed unless there is an unhappy party. As far as physicians, you can not make the defense that they were unhappy due to a break-up. The physician can not claim a consensual relationship as a defense.

Should A Doctor Date Their Patient?

If, as a physician, you do not mind drama and ambiguity, then, by all means, go for it and be happy. However, if you do not want to ever take the chance of medical ethics hearings, stay away from the patient. If there has been a discussion about it, end the conversation and send the patient to another doctor. It is not worth risking your medical license over.

Outright it sounds just wrong! In actuality, you can date your doctor, kind of. Being a doctor involves a lot of ethical beliefs and statements. The oath they take as they get their degree is held to the highest degree of importance. What Does The Law Say About Dating Your Doctor According to the American…