Saturday, March 12, 2011
What Every Woman Needs to Know
7. Repeated self-reported studies indicate that about 10% of male medical providers, regardless of specialty, sexually abuse female patients. Often these predators are prominent doctors, who misuse their status and privilege to take personal advantage of women. Surely they think they are above the law and the reputation will provide “cover.” The Joint Commission for Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO, which my hospital proudly advertizes as belonging to) lists hospital sexual assaults as a Top-10 high-frequency problem.
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I would like to know if you could please post the source of this data. I am unable to find it on the web, and would like to read further, especially the AMA approved data.
ReplyDeleteThanx for your help...
Probably more than you want, but please see these key sources found through extensive research. Some are published articles and others are books. There have been repeated studies. Kerr/Haslam and Gartrell are especially insightful. I can e-send you Gartrell, if you want.
ReplyDeleteKERR/HASLAM COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY, KERR/HASLAM INQUIRY, 2005, Cm. 6640, at 619 (U.K.) (This comprehensive 975 page report delves into the failure of the National Health System to protect patients from the sexual misconduct of Drs. William Kerr, Michael Haslam and other physicians. The report cites that 11% of United States general practitioners have had sexual contact with at least one patient. This probably understates the magnitude of the problem because it includes primarily ‘voluntary’ sexual contact and does not include forced sexual attacks on patients), available at http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_4115349.
Nanette K. Gartrell et al., Physician-Patient Sexual Contact: Prevalence and Problems, 157 WEST J.MED. 139, 140-42 (1992) (In a report of 10,000 U.S. physicians surveyed, nineteen percent of family practitioners, obstetricians-gynecologists, and surgeons responded. Self-reported data indicated that overall ten percent of male doctors acknowledged sexual contact with patients. Doctor-patient sexual contact was: 6% for internal medicine doctors, 9% for surgeons, 10% for obstetricians-gynecologists, and 11% for family practice doctors. These numbers are likely understated for several reasons: underreporting of prohibited conduct, data includes primarily ‘voluntary’ sexual relationships while excluding sexual assaults, and inclusion of female doctors who are considerably less likely to abuse patients. Yet, 23% of responding physicians had at least one patient who reported sexual contact with another physician, suggesting that the actual frequency of doctor-patient sexual contact could be over 20%.); see also Catherine S. Leffler, Comment, Sexual Conduct within the Physician-Patient Relationship: A Statutory Framework for Disciplining this Breach of Fiduciary Duty, 1 WIDENER L. SYMPOSIUM. J. 501 (1996) (citing a British Columbia study revealing that 10.8% of physicians acknowledged sexual contact with patients, yet 20.7% had patients that reported sexual contact with other physicians — suggesting that the average 10% rate may actually be closer to 20%).
John R. Sealy, Physician Sexual Misconduct, 9 SEXUAL ADDICTION & COMPULSIVITY, ISSUE 2 & 3, 97, 97-111 (2002) (citing that sexual addiction is present in over 50% of professionals accused of sexual misconduct).
ReplyDeleteJERRY EDELWICH ET AL., SEXUAL DILEMMAS FOR THE HELPING PROFESSIONAL 89 (1991) (citing that of psychologists who had sex with patients, 80% involved more than one patient).
JOSEPH D. BLOOM ET AL., PHYSICIAN SEXUAL MISCONDUCT 68-81 (1999) (listing a chronology of key cases involving sexual assaults on patients by licensed physicians).
STEVEN BISBING ET AL., SEXUAL ABUSE BY PROFESSIONALS: A LEGAL GUIDE 36-39 (1995).
PAULINE TRUMPI, DOCTORS WHO RAPE: MALPRACTICE AND MISOGYNY 129 (1997).
JOINT COMMISSION, SENTINEL EVENT POLICY AND PROCEDURES 1-3 (Jul. 2007) (“A sentinel event is an unexpected occurrence involving death or serious physical or psychological injury . . . . Such events . . . signal the need for immediate investigation and response.” Also known as “Never Events,” because preventable harm is never acceptable), available at http://www.jointcommission.org/sentinelevents/policyandprocedures/; see JOINT COMMISSION, PATIENT SAFETY: UPDATED SENTINEL EVENT STATISTICS 1-2 (Apr. 7, 2010), http://www.jointcommission.org/Library/jconline/ (JACHO Sentinel Event statistics reveal that sexual assaults of hospitalized patients are a high frequency of occurrence; Top ten events are (1) Wrong-site surgery (13.3%), (2) Suicide (11.8%), (3) Op/Post-op complication (10.8%), (4) Delay in treatment (8.6%), (5) Medication error (8.0%), (6) Patient fall (6.5%), (7) Unintended retention of foreign body (5.5%), (8) Assault/rape/homicide (3.8%), (9) Perinatal death/loss of function (3.1%), and (10) Patient death/injury in restraints (2.9%) for a total of 74.3% of preventable injury in the Top 10 events), available at http://www.jointcommission.org/SentinelEvents/Statistics/.
ReplyDeleteAMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs, Sexual Misconduct in the Practice of Medicine, 266 JAMA 2741, 2741 (1991), available at http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/266/19/2741.
Web abstract is attached. Note JAMA affiliation.
ReplyDeleteJOSEPH D. BLOOM ET AL., PHYSICIAN SEXUAL MISCONDUCT 68-81 (1999) (listing a chronology of key cases involving sexual assaults on patients by licensed physicians).
http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/283/6/809.extract