Posted by SLS on April 21, 2009, at 14:57:12
In reply to Not ethical for Dr. Bob, posted by Deneb on April 21, 2009, at 11:27:19
I think ethics are more of a professional or personal rule book to govern behavior so as to help insure morality and conflicts of interest. It is not morality itself. In some cases, it might be immoral to remain ethical.
Very often, professional ethics exist to protect others from the profession. Dinah did a good job of explaining how this might apply in your case.
Bob is unlikely to suffer personal harm for having dinner with just about anyone. However, his ethics of conduct and oath as a medical doctor - first, do no harm - could be breached by having an interaction with someone whom he knows to have emotional vulnerabilities. This is especially true of a professional who is conducting a harmful act that relates to their own field of practice.
Because there are so many shades of gray between having dinner with a psychiatrist and having a psychiatric condition exacerbated by a psychiatrist, Dr. Bob seems to have decided to place a professional boundary between himself and members of the Psycho-Babble community so as to insure no injurious relationships develop between himself and others.
I'm not sure how much of the above statements are actually involved in Dr. Bob's reasoning in displaying boundaries. Maybe none of them. I have some reservations about trying to read the good doctor's mind. I don't seem to be much good at it.
:-)
- Scott
> I have found that Dr. Bob's position can frequently evoke transferential reactions. Including from me. Your pdoc is definitely aware of how you feel about Dr. Bob, and that a dinner with Dr. Bob, tete a tete, would be unlikely to *just* be a dinner with Dr. Bob to you. It would possibly assume far more importance than that. And if she is aware about your fears over your reaction to Dr. Bob and/or other Babblers, she would be even more adamant I'm sure.
>
> I imagine that Dr. Bob is not unaware of the possibility of transference, and likely feels a similar sense of responsibility that he feels in his profession.
>
> That's just a guess. But I must confess I too think it would be an ethical stance not to even give the appearance of taking advantage of transference.
>
> Of course, this is also Dr. Bob's professional conference and he will likely be very occupied with friends and colleagues. I've always thought it wasn't really an ideal time for those Babble get-togethers, other than that it moves around.
>
poster:SLS
thread:891916
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20090302/msgs/891952.html