CASE 10
You are a physical therapist who has been practicing for ten years. You have
taken many continuing 
education
courses on manual therapy and believe that you are a good clinician. Recently
you had a 22-year-old patient who came to you for back pain. You determined that
the patient had an SI dysfunction by performing several tests, including
checking the level of the pubic bones. The patient was in severe distress not
only from the back pain, but she also told you that she was going through a
divorce and had two small children at home. After your treatment, the patient
left the clinic without making a follow-up appointment. Two months later you
receive a notice from the State Board of Physical Therapy Examiners telling you
that you have been accused of sexual misconduct by this patient. You are told
that you need to make the files of this patient available for an investigator to
view. Simultaneously this patient filed an ethics complaint with the TPTA Ethics
Committee stating that you had touched her inappropriately and accuses you of
sexual misconduct.
What do you think prompted this accusation?
What issues do you think that the board and the ethics committee need to address?
How could it be determined what had actually happened in the treatment room with this patient?
How could this have been prevented?