Thaindian News

London, July 16 (IANS) Half of the family doctors polled in a survey in Britain have expressed a desire to be allowed to have a sexual relationship with their patient.

The poll of 282 doctors was carried out by a weekly general practitioners’ (GPs) magazine Pulse.

One in six general practitioners (GPs) thinks it is acceptable to have sex with one of their patients, while 48 percent think it is okay to do so if the patient changes doctor, Daily Mail reported the survey as stating.

The poll shows that General Medical Council (GMC) guidelines do not fit with the attitudes of practitioners.

Asked if they would support a doctor’s relationship with a patient, so long as the patient moved practices, only 28 percent said they would not, with nearly half saying that they would.

Although the majority of GPs said they thought a doctor should not have sex with his own patient, 16 percent thought that this would be acceptable. Two percent of those polled admitted to having had sex with a patient registered at their practice.

The General Medical Council’s present guidelines forbid doctors from having sexual relationships with their patients. The guidelines further say that relationships with former patients are usually ‘inappropriate’ unless they arise from ’social contact’.

The guidelines also prohibit GPs from having sex with former patients if the patient could be considered ‘vulnerable’ or if ‘the professional relationship is being abused’.