This week, White Coat Black Art launched its series of summer rebroadcasts with a show from 2008 on boundaries between health professionals and patients.  You can listen to the show here. This is one of the touchiest subjects we've ever tackled, judging by the emails we received.

Leilani Riddle of Vancouver writes:  "I really love this show and the series on boundaries brought back memories of a very upsetting experience I had with a doctor several years ago that revolved around several issues:  prejudgement of a new patient that determined the level of care the doctor was willing to give, lack of proper care, lack of any kind of problem solving, and a total lack of empathy.

Randall Hoy - also from Vancouver sent this email:  "I just listened to the program of etiquette and proper patient and doctor relationships.  I am often wrought thinking about this as a woman I once knew had quite a story to say the least.  She was having difficulties with sex because of a medical problem and decided to see a gynecologist.  She was treated successfully, but then, the gynaecologist had sex with her.  She wouldn't say who it was and was embarrassed by the situation.  It is shocking; this man that just shouldn't have his job."

All I case say is:  I agree completely.  That the above case was described as fairly recent gives me cause for concern. Are provincial colleges doing a better job of enforcing proper boundaries between health professionals and patients?  Probably.  Despite this, they may not be as open as they should be in shining a light on a very dark subject.

Recently, I received a letter from a professor at a Canadian university.  She was trying to study court and professional disciplinary decisions dealing with sexual misconduct and fraud by physicians.  The relevant provincial college refused to provide cases for the professor to review.  An appeal to the provincial privacy commissioner was likewise rebuffed.

In my opinion, there must surely be a way to provide that kind of information for academic research purposes without violating privacy.