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Unethical conduct damages therapeutic relationships The Hippocratic Oath, which every physician including psychiatrists takes, condemns unethical conduct between the patient and physician. In the past decade, unethical conduct between persons in the helping profession and their patients or clients has received increased public attention. "Teachers, attorneys, clergy, social workers and physicians, including psychiatrists, all persons in the helping profession, must deal honestly and with propriety in his or her chosen profession," Joseph B. Ruffin, M.D., Pubic Information Committee, Oklahoma Psychiatric Physicians Association, said. "Although this applies to all, in psychiatry, a patient places a unique trust in the psychiatrist at a very vulnerable time in their life. It is the psychiatrist's ethics which preclude him or her from gratifying his or her own personal needs through exploitation of the patient." "Psychiatrists are professionals who have had long years of training and discipline in the assessment, understanding and improvement of human suffering," Dr. Ruffin added. "Such expertise makes the violation or misuse of that special relationship of trust, dependency and caring which exists between the patient and the physician particularly damaging." He also said that psychiatrists should diligently guard against exploiting information furnished by the patient and should not use the unique position of power afforded him or her by the psychotherapeutic situation to influence the patient in any way not directly related to treatment goals. Sexual activity with a patient is unethical. Sexual involvement with one's former patients generally exploits emotions deriving from treatment and therefore almost always is unethical. "Patients are not doing themselves or their physician any good by not reporting unethical conduct," Dr. Ruffin said. "Misconduct is harmful to the patient and cannot be tolerated under any circumstance. Not only does misconduct betray the intent of the therapeutic relationship, but the outcome is destructive for the patient because he or she has been victimized at a time when they are trusting and depending upon the physician for guidance and protection in the therapeutic relationship." The Oklahoma Psychiatric Physicians Association advises any person who believes they have been the victim of unethical conduct to send a written letter requesting an investigation to the attention of the: Ethics Committee ######
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