Works Cited

Professional Boundaries and Sexual Misconduct in Medicine

Course #41171 - $24-

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  • Participation Instructions
    • Review the course material online or in print.
    • Complete the course evaluation.
    • Review your Transcript to view and print your Certificate of Completion. Your date of completion will be the date (Pacific Time) the course was electronically submitted for credit, with no exceptions. Partial credit is not available.

1. Sindhu KK, Schaffer AC, Cohen IG, Allensworth RH, Adashi EY. Honoring the public trust: curbing the bane of physician sexual misconduct. J Law Biosci. 2022;9(1):lsac007.

2. AbuDagga A, Carome M, Oshel R. 15-Year Summary of Sexual Misconduct by U.S. Physicians Reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank, 2003–2017. Available at https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/2523.pdf. Last accessed August 21, 2026.

3. DuBois JM, Walsh HA, Chibnall JT, et al. Sexual violation of patients by physicians: a mixed-methods, exploratory analysis of 101 cases. Sex Abuse. 2019;31(5):503-523.

4. AbuDagga A, Carome M, Wolfe SM. Time to end physician sexual abuse of patients: calling the U.S. medical community to action.J Gen Intern Med. 2019;34(7):1330-1333.

5. Federation of State Medical Boards. Physician Sexual Misconduct. Available at https://www.fsmb.org/siteassets/advocacy/policies/report-of-workgroup-on-sexual-misconduct-adopted-version.pdf. Last accessed August 21, 2026.

6. American Medical Association. Code of Ethics Opinion 9.1.1 Romantic or Sexual Relationships with Patients. Available at https://code-medical-ethics.ama-assn.org/ethics-opinions/romantic-or-sexual-relationships-patients. August 21, 2026.

7. American Medical Association. Code of Ethics Opinion 9.1.2 Romantic or Sexual Relationships with Key Third Parties. Available at https://code-medical-ethics.ama-assn.org/ethics-opinions/romantic-or-sexual-relationships-key-third-parties. Last accessed August 21, 2026.

8. American Medical Association. Code of Ethics Opinion 9.1.3 Sexual Harassment in the Practice of Medicine. Available at https://code-medical-ethics.ama-assn.org/ethics-opinions/sexual-harassment-practice-medicine. Last accessed August 21, 2026.

9. Goertzen J. Preceptor-Learner Boundaries: Optimizing Professional, Educational and Personal Relationships. Available athttps:// www.nosm.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/E2-Preceptor-learner-boundaries-Handout.pdf. Last accessed August 21, 2026.

10. Mantova MC, Metcalfe NH. Professional boundary violations in primary care. InnovAiT. 2022;15(5):301-306.

11. Rizk BRMB, Olsen ME. Challenging Office Cases in Obstetrics and Gynecology. New Delhi: The Health Sciences Publisher; 2016.

12. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Committee Opinion 796 Sexual Misconduct. Available at https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/committee-opinion/articles/2020/01/sexual-misconduct. Last accessed August 21, 2026.

13. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Committee Opinion 825: Caring for Patients Who Have Experienced Trauma. Available at https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/committee-opinion/articles/2021/04/caring-for-patients-who-have-experienced-trauma. Last accessed August 21, 2026.

14. American Academy of Emergency Medicine. AAEM Principles of Ethics. Available at https://www.aaem.org/about-us/code-of-ethics. Last accessed August 21, 2026.

15. Laskey A, Haney S, Northrop S; Council on Child Abuse and Neglect. Protecting children from sexual abuse by health care professionals and in the health care setting. Pediatrics. 2022;150(3):e2022058879.

16. Hagan JF Jr, Shaw JS, Duncan PM (eds). Bright Futures: Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children and Adolescents. 4th ed. Elk Grove Village, IL: American Academy of Pediatrics; 2017.

17. Fronek P, Kendall M, Ungerer G, Malt J, Eugarde E, Geraghty T. Too hot to handle: reflections on professional boundaries in practice. Reflective Practice. 2009;10(2):161-171.

18. Bulman C, Schutz S (eds). Reflective Practice in Nursing. 5th ed. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell; 2013.

19. Medical Defence Union. Maintaining Patient Boundaries. Available at https://www.themdu.com/guidance-and-advice/guides/maintaining-patient-boundaries. Last accessed August 21, 2026.

20. Aravind VK, Krishnaram VD, Thasneem Z. Boundary crossings and violations in clinical settings. Indian J Psychol Med. 2012;34(1):21-24.

21. Gabbard GO. Prevention of boundary violations. Psych Times. 2008;25(4).

22. Medical Indemnity Protection Society. Keeping within Professional Boundaries. Available at https://support.mips.com.au/home/keeping-within-professional-boundaries. Last accessed August 21, 2026.

23. American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Opinion on Ethics and Professionalism: Sexual Misconduct in the Physician-Patient Relationship. Available at https://www.aaos.org/contentassets/6507ec63e5ac4ea48375ad96d154daac/1208-sexual-misconduct.pdf. Last accessed August 21, 2026.

24. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Summary of the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Available at https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/laws-regulations/index.html. Last accessed August 21, 2026.

25. Haddad A, Doherty R, Purtilo R. Professional boundaries guided by respect. In: Health Professional and Patient Interaction. 10th ed. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier; 2023: 28-40.

26. Sharma P. A case of a patient/physician boundary issue in rural practice and measures to avoid or maintain dual relationships.Prim Care Companion CNS Disord. 2015;17(2):10.4088.

27. Anderson SC, Guyton MR. Ethics in an age of information seekers: a survey of licensed healthcare providers about online social networking. J Technol Hum Serv. 2013;31(2):112-128.

28. American Medical Association. Code of Ethics Opinion 2.3.2 Professionalism in the Use of Social Media. Available at https://policysearch.ama-assn.org/policyfinder/detail/E-2.3.2%20?uri=%2FAMADoc%2FEthics.xml-E-2.3.2.xml. Last accessed August 21, 2026.

29. Reyes Nieva H, Ruan E, Schiff GD. Professional-patient boundaries: a national survey of primary care physicians' attitudes and practices. J Gen Intern Med. 2020;35(2):457-464.

30. Medical Board of Australia. Sexual Boundaries in the Doctor-Patient Relationship. Available at https://www.medicalboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-Policies/Sexual-boundaries-guidelines.aspx. Last accessed August 21, 2026.

31. Krupp BH. Professional boundaries: safeguarding the physician-patient relationship. In: Dermatoethics: Contemporary Ethics and Professionalism in Dermatology. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2021: 161-168.

32. Clemens V, Brähler E, Fegert JM. #patientstoo - Professional sexual misconduct by healthcare professionals towards patients: a representative study. Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci. 2021;30:e50.

33. Davies M. Crossing boundaries: dealing with amorous advances by doctors and patients. BMJ 2015;351:h5368.

  • Back to Course Home
  • Participation Instructions
    • Review the course material online or in print.
    • Complete the course evaluation.
    • Review your Transcript to view and print your Certificate of Completion. Your date of completion will be the date (Pacific Time) the course was electronically submitted for credit, with no exceptions. Partial credit is not available.