Ethical Decision-Making in Physical Therapy |
CASE 2You are a male physical therapist who has been practicing for five years. Recently you had a 28-year-old female patient with upper back pain. Unfortunately, you were running late that day and she waited 45 minutes in your waiting room. She had completed a questionnaire asking her about her history, but you did not have time to review it, so you were unable to use the information during the evaluation. You were quite thorough in your evaluation, including checking the tightness of the pectoralis muscles. You made numerous notes about your findings, but you did not have time to discuss your assessment with the patient. After your treatment, the office staff noticed that the patient left the clinic obviously upset. Several 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 had asked her many personal questions that she interpreted as inappropriate. What do you think prompted this accusation? What issues do you believe the board and the ethics committee would need to address? How could it be determined what had actually happened in the treatment room with this patient? What are some of the ethical issues involved in this case?
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