Sexual abuse in the health professions--who's counting?

Abstract

In an examination of the health security of women, sexual exploitation of women patients when the perpetrators hold the trusted position of care provider, merits some considerable attention. Availability of data varies, with the majority gathered in the United States and Canada, focusing on medicine, psychotherapy and nursing. However, even for those professions, this field of research is in its early stages. Within the past few years, research has been undertaken in Australia and New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom. Central to any discussion of this aspect of women's access to safe and appropriate health care are 3 questions about data. Do we know whether women are the principal victims of this abuse? Do such numbers count? Do we in fact need more data collection as we learn to respond more effectively to this particular form of violence against women? The author, who chaired Canada's first inquiry into the sexual abuse of patients by doctors, answers all 3 questions in the affirmative, with an emphasis on combining data collection with action. The sampling of research in this article demonstrates the need to combine qualitative and quantitative data to gain a more accurate understanding of the dynamics of abuse, within the social context of women's experience.