Paper Sample on Healthcare-Related Sexual Abuse: Current Protections and Ethical Responsibilities

Introduction

Sexual abuse/misconduct is the use of force to involve another partner in sexual behavior without their agreement. Those who commit the crime take advantage of the victims’ background or use threats to perform the act. There are several cases of sexual misconduct in society today, which happen through persuasion, intimidation, and manipulation. Therefore, this paper will focus on healthcare-related abuse, analysis of the current state protections, and the penalties for perpetrators for the state and the ethical responsibilities of other professionals who may be aware of improper conduct by a medical provider.

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According to Mathews & Bismark (2015), Doctors are among the most trusted individuals in the universe today. Therefore sexual abuse by these professionals to patients is less reported because of intimidation or fear of not being heard. Many physicians have been summoned and disciplined because of gross misconduct with patients and even with fellow professionals (Münzer et al. 2016). In this case, Professional Sexual Misconduct with patients is the worst offense in hospitals since it involves the most vulnerable individuals, which causes less trust for doctors.

On the same note, the campaigns on the "End Physician Sexual Misconduct" slogan in the United States and calling on United States medical experts to act about it have surfaced. Researchers have revealed that, when a physician commits a sexual offense with a patient, their colleagues fear to disclose the secrete to the authorities in the medical sector because they fear that the management will take no action on such cases (Brockman 2018). The outcome in such cases is that the patients have to undergo some mental torture and live in fear of their claims being rendered baseless, physical damage, and lack of trust towards the Doctors, among others.

Analysis of the Current State Protections and the Penalties for Perpetrators

According to O’Neal & Spohn (2017), legislators are trying their best to ensure that justice is served to these victims. The findings of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution show that there is no accuracy on sexual misconduct records on doctors since the information cannot be easily obtained from the health departments. Brockman (2018) states that, even after several reports made about sexual abuse with patients or any other persons and taken to courts, the doctors can still be seen practicing their professionalism in their respective places of work. Dr. Richard Martin Roberts from Texas is an example of a sexual predator who was accused of conducting several unjustified examinations on the genitals to a 7-year-old girl. After the case was taken to court, his working permit was revoked, but later on, his license to the medical sector was reinstated, and he is still treating patients.

In Texas, the law of "duty to report" is still not satisfying despite the public outcry about sexual abuse by physicians in the sense that the victim's complaints are always rendered untrue, which serves as an advantage the medics' side (Münzer et al. 2016). As a result, the offenders still get back to business with the medical board's help, who facilitate their reinstatement. Dr. Faiz Ahmed, a neurologist from Texas, was found guilty of carrying out wrong examinations to female patients. He was arrested and his license confiscated for a while and later on freed to resume his duties on an account that he will be handling male patients.

Besides, some Boards in the medical sector are keen on disciplining their employees who have fallen victims of a sexual offense. In Texas, this is achieved by taking away their licenses, followed by more punishments to serve as lessons. An example is when one is subjected to further studies multiple times as a form of punishment.

It is perceived that there are more cases of sexual abuse in hospitals that the medical departments don’t know (Brockman,2018). This is because of fear by colleagues to report such cases in an account of being fired. An example of Dr. Kevin A. Lang, who was arrested for masturbation while attending to a patient, and confessed that he had done more sexual offenses with patients, but the board was unaware.

Medical boards are encouraged to introduce behavioral conduct principles that will help in the protection of physician-patient sexual scandals. O’Neal & Spohn (2017) state that those who fail to control this act and put things undercover are expected to face the law's full wrath. An example is when a doctor is found to have committed a sexual offense and referrals are made by fellow professionals. The doctors, too, are to be punished, which will reduce sexual misconduct from doctors to patients.

Ethical Responsibilities of Other Professionals

Despite many cases being reported of sexual abuse by medics, the perpetrators cannot be easily prosecuted because their colleagues fear the abusers will lose their jobs (Münzer et al. 2016). Therefore, most predators still get their licenses to operate with the aid of Medicine Board Registration. According to O’Neal & Spohn (2017), Since the information about sexual abuse on doctors is not disclosed to the public, some cases are just solved within the board offices, and the physicians' claims are resolved. The vulnerable patients are the ones left suffering.

On the Medics side, the physicians are not ready to speak up about their colleagues' outrageous behaviors in what they say is a violation of their privacy (Mathews& Bismark 2015). Due to this reason, victims are left with no more say as they may also lack evidence to support their allegations. As a result, the anonymity of proof about the act makes it hard for the Attorneys to do follow-ups where the Doctors are then taken to courts for prosecution and later freed on cash bail and fines.

Conclusion

There are several cases of sexual misconduct in society today, which happens through persuasion, intimidation, and manipulation, among others. Focusing on the health sector in the world, Doctors are among trusted individuals. Therefore sexual abuse by these professionals to patients is less reported because of intimidation or fear of unattentiveness. Despite several cases being reported of sexual abuse by medics, the perpetrators cannot be easily prosecuted due to fear of saying from other colleagues. Therefore, the majority of the predators still get their licenses to operate with the aid of Medicine Board Registration.

References

Brockman, J. (2018). The research challenges of exposing physicians’ sexual misconduct in Canada. Critical Criminology, 26(4), 527-544.Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10612-018-9418-7

Mathews, B., & Bismark, M. M. (2015). Sexual harassment in the medical profession: legal and ethical responsibilities. Medical Journal of Australia, 203(4), 189-192. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.5694/mja15.00336

Münzer, A., Fegert, J. M., Ganser, H. G., Loos, S., Witt, A., & Goldbeck, L. (2016). Please tell! Barriers to disclosing sexual victimization and subsequent social support perceived by children and adolescents. Journal of interpersonal violence, 31(2), 355-377. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0886260514555371

O'Neal, E. N., & Spohn, C. (2017). When the perpetrator is a partner: Arrest and charging decisions in intimate partner sexual assault cases—A focal concern analysis. Violence against women, 23(6), 707-729. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1077801216650289