Oy! Inappropriate health care professionals

I'm sure some people think I am overly sensitive, but I have been absolutely horrified by some of the stories I've heard recently.  Everything from a mental health care provider asking a patient during a psych eval if he was the cutest psych doctor she's ever seen to a doctor stroking a patient's hair in a way that made her feel uncomfortable.  How on earth is a patient supposed to be respond when the doc doing her psych eval that she needs in order to have WLS asks her if he's cute?  Does she risk offending him by saying no or saying she thinks that's an inappropriate question, when he has the power to tell her surgeon she's not a good candidate for the surgery she wants and needs?  What on earth is wrong with a doctor putting a patient in that position?  They know better.  They take some sort of ethics course in school.  And unless you're seeing a doctor because something is wrong with your hair, he does not need to be touching your hair.  And they know better than to do that, too.

And I'm in a foul mood because I just came home from seeing my therapist and it was an awful session in which, among other things, she told me about her financial problems.  Which, as you might imagine, I care about not one little tiny bit.  I think she was trying to show that she empathizes with my current financial problems but you  know what?  Telling your client that you owe back taxes is inappropriate!  And not what I am paying for!  And I am pretty sure she learned that in school, too.

I agree wholeheartedly.  I am required to complete 3 hours of ethics CEUs (along with 27 hours of other CEUs) every 2 years to renew my counseling license, and usually the class involves some type of sample scenarios for discussion... but most of the examples they use -- even some of the ones that are of the "are you SERIOUS?!?" variety -- are nothing compared to some of the things I have heard here over the past 5 years!

Lora

p.s.  I think it was almost as bad for your therapist to spend time YOU are paying for to tell you about HER financial issues.  A general statement would have sufficed to show empathy...  Especially since almost everyone has been through SOME period of financial difficulty.

I agree. When my daughter was 14/15 and seeing a therapist for trauma issues the therapist would tell my daughter about issues she was having in her marriage. When my daughter told me I flipped out and mentioned it to another therapist who I trusted and who also worked in the same office. He was outraged too and told me that if my daughter felt comfortable she could let the therapist know that it was inappropriate for the therapist to talk to a child/patient about her marital problems and he also said that if my daughter didnt feel comfortable then he would take care of it. My daughter wanted to handle it herself and she told her therapist that she did not want to hear about her marital problems and the therapist actually responded and my daughter was very happy with her and the treatment and was so upset when the therapist moved out of town. But I am sure that the therapist was taught not to talk to children that she is treating about her own marital problems.

As a healthcare professional myself, I have to agree with you that these types of behaviors are completely inappropriate! I can't believe that they would be acting in this manner or telling patients about personal information not only are they crossing professional boundaries but it is also a conflict of interest. I would hope that the patients that had these events happen to them reported these behaviors to an appropriate source.

Yikes!  That YOUR paid for time not her therapy session.

 I had 3 bedside nurses while I was in the hospital tell me they hated bedside nursing. 
Eeek..really...umm..thanks for telling me.

 I have had that happen before.  

On a related note, although I generally find it unprofessional for hospital nurses to dish "dirt" on physicians, I have to admit that I have been thankful on more than one occasion to have a nurse confirm my impression of a doctor who was brought in to treat me (as opposed to someone that I or my PCP selected).  In my recent experience the nurse validated my belief that the ENT surgeon who broke the bone(s) in my sinus cavity and triggered my PTSD so badly in the process of packing my nose in the ER is often somewhat brusque or even rough with patients, and she helped me not only feel a bit less upset about the incident but to confirm my decision NOT to follow-up with him.

Lora

I am so glad you got validation on this.

This thread reminds me of The Sopranos when the fictional Dr Melfi tells her therapist  that she wants to start treating Tony again. "It would be therapuetic for me. "   Her therapist says, "It's not supposed to be therapuetic for YOU"

As a therapist, there are times personal disclosure can be therapeutic.  It has to be very, very specific and utilized during a specific therpeutic technique. 
The other side of this is, therapy can be therapeutic to a therapist.  I find therapy very therapeutic when I am focusing on someone else when there are stressors at home that I can leave behind.  When you are truly focusing on someone else (which you should be), you relieve your mind of your own problems. 
Would I talk to my clients about my fianances?  No.
Do I talk to them about what's for dinner?  Sometimes. Even walked one through a recipe last week.
Do I talk about WLS?  Yes, when asked, but I keep it short with the exception of one with a serious interest in it, and we've talked more.
I also live in a community where I run into clients in public a lot (they collect at Walmart).  When I am with family members and they walk up and introduce themselves it's HIPAA out the door and usually awkward.  I had one tell me later that they never pictured my husband to look like he does.  I wasn't sure if that was good or bad, but didn't pursue it.
I try really hard to avoid these situations because it's often more awkward for my family members (think "What About Bob"), but they are understanding and very patient.  I often feel rude because of HIPAA I do not do any introducing (like I would do in a normal social situation), and that alone tells whoever I'm with that it's a client.