Many of you will not disagree with me: dentistry is an up-close and personal profession. But what happens when interactions between dental professionals and patients get a little too personal? Perhaps you’ve had a patient ask you out on a date. Maybe you’ve asked a patient to a romantic outing. The purpose of this article is to provide you with some guidance on what behavior is considered to be acceptable and ethical when choosing to date a patient.
The ADA Principles of Ethics and Professional Conduct states the following:
“Dentists should avoid interpersonal relationships that could impair their professional judgment or risk the possibility of exploiting the confidence placed in them by a patient.”
The Ethics Handbook for Dentists published by the American College of Dentists states:
“Dentists should not use their position of influence to solicit or develop romantic relationships with patients. Romantic interests with current patients may exploit patients’ vulnerability and detrimentally affect the objective judgment of the clinician. In such a case, the dentist should consider terminating the dentist-patient relationship in an arrangement mutually agreeable to the patient. Dentists should avoid creating perceptions of inappropriate behavior.”
So you’ve read the guidance quotes above and you still really want to date that patient? What do you do? What do you do if your hygienist or other team member wants to date a patient? What are the potential negative outcomes?
Any patient you or your team member desires to romantically pursue should be referred to another dental practitioner and his or her care should be well-established with the new practitioner before any romantic encounter occurs. You should have a written office policy outlining this procedure.
If you don’t terminate the professional relationship first and something goes wrong with the romantic relationship, you could face a variety of problems. Some states can seek professional disciplinary action against you if their code has a specific statement against dating patients. The patient may become litigious at a later date and/or may argue that you or your team member in question has unauthorized access to his or her private health information. In some cases, account balances may be forgiven or unauthorized credit given to the patient as a favor from the person they are dating. The public may also view these types of relationships as inappropriate.
It is your choice when choosing to enter into a more personal relationship with a patient.
Always remember to refer first and date second in order to protect your integrity and that of the profession!
References:
- Ethics Handbook for Dentists, American College of Dentists, p. 13 www.acd.org
- Chiodo GT, Toile SW. Sexual boundaries in dental practice: Part 1. Pub Med.
- ADA Principles of Ethics and Professional Conduct, Section 2.G., p.6. www.ada.org