Ethics Opinions

Romantic or sexual interactions between physicians and patients that occur concurrently with the patient-physician relationship are unethical. A physician must terminate the patient-physician relationship before initiating a dating, romantic, or sexual relationship with a patient. Sexual or romantic relationships with former patients are unethical if the physician uses or exploits trust, knowledge, emotions, or influence derived from the previous professional relationship, or if a romantic relationship would foreseeably harm the individual.

Gifts to physicians from industry create conditions that carry the risk of subtly biasing—or being perceived to bias—professional judgment in the care of patients. To preserve the trust that is fundamental to the patient-physician relationship and public confidence in the profession, physicians should decline any gifts for which reciprocity is expected or implied.

To be ethically appropriate, word-of-mouth referrals must be voluntary on the part of current patients and should reflect honestly on the practice. Physicians must not offer financial incentives or other valuable incentives to current patients in exchange for recruitment of other patients.

Diagnostic imaging tests are sometimes marketed directly to consumers before they have been scientifically validated. Physicians should advocate for the conduct of appropriate trials aimed at determining the predictive power of diagnostic imaging tests and their sensitivity and specificity for target populations.