Legal Requirements: Treatment Of Sexual And/Or Romantic Partners

Overview: Sexual Abuse and a Physician’s Sexual and/or Romantic Partners

If a physician provides treatment to an individual where there was or is a sexual or romantic relationship, a physician may be found to have committed sexual abuse – even if the person they are treating is a spouse or long-term romantic partner.

However, a physician can provide treatment to a current or past sexual or romantic partner for minor conditions or in emergency circumstances. In these cases the physician has to take reasonable steps to transfer care of the individual to another physician, where possible1.

For more information on the requirements in the Health Professions Procedural Code (Code), please see below.

Definition of “Patient” for the Purposes of Determining Sexual Abuse

For the purposes of determining whether sexual abuse has occurred, a person is defined as a patient when any one of the following occur:

• the physician charges or receives a payment for health care services provided;
• the physician contributes to a health record or file for the person;
• the person has consented to a health care service recommended by the physician; or
• the physician prescribes a drug for which a prescription is needed to the person.

This means that essentially all treatment provided by a physician will make the person a patient under the law.

Exceptions

The legislation provides an exception to the definition of patient, which permits treatment of a sexual or romantic partner in specified circumstances. A sexual or romantic partner will not be considered a patient if all three of the following criteria are met:2

• there is a sexual relationship between the person receiving treatment and the physician at the time the treatment is provided;
• the treatment was provided in emergency circumstances or where the treatment is minor; and
• the physician has taken reasonable steps to transfer care of the individual to another physician, or there is no reasonable opportunity to transfer care.

Duration of the Physician-Patient Relationship

Under the Code3, a person will be considered a physician’s patient until a year after the physician stopped providing treatment or otherwise had a physician-patient relationship.

Sexual Abuse Provisions in the Code

The Code4 states that sexual abuse has occurred if a physician has:

• Sexual intercourse or other forms of physical sexual relations with a patient;
• Touched a patient in a sexual manner; or
• Engaged in any behaviour or remarks of a sexual nature towards a patient.

There is no exception for spouses or romantic partners.

Consequences for Treating Sexual or Romantic Partners

The Code5 sets out mandatory penalties for engaging in professional misconduct by sexually abusing a patient. These penalties include revocation and/or suspension.

The law requires these mandatory penalties to be applied, even if there are mitigating factors or a physician was in a consensual relationship.6