Dating a former patient?

[oneqkquestion]

Can I legally date a former patient who I met in the psychiatric hospital? I work as a technician there.

 

[quincy]

Can I legally date a former patient who I met in the psychiatric hospital? I work as a technician there.

What is the name of your state or, if not in the US, what is the name of your country?

Laws vary between states and laws vary in significant ways between countries.

 

[ecmst12]

A more important question, if you want to keep your job, is how does your employer feel about it.

An even MORE important question is why would you want to?

 

[Just Blue]

Can I legally date a former patient who I met in the psychiatric hospital? I work as a technician there.

Were you a "technician" in the ward the girl you want to date was in? If so, in what capacity?

 

[TheGeekess]

Can I legally date a former patient who I met in the psychiatric hospital? I work as a technician there.

Ethically and therapeutically, it's very inappropriate.

 

[lkc15507]

Don't do it.

If you are licensed do NOT, NOT, NOT date a patient. In particular, the American Psychiatric Association takes an even dimmer view of this than does the American Medical Association. You will definitely put your license in jeopardy. If you are not licensed, you probably will put your employment in jeopardy. While I will say that some in the medical community are becoming more accepting of this scenario, it is very much still extremely situational and mostly taboo; especially with a psych patient—and for good reason. There is a plethora of information for you to Google if you want, but I think this is a really bad idea. Most certainly, you could never be at work while this person is a patient. Licensed or not, do not do it if you want to remain in your current line of work with even a shred of credibility. You know that or you wouldn’t have asked.

 

[ecmst12]

Techs are not treatment providers and usually not licensed so the ethical issues are not as pronounced, but it's still not a great idea for a whole host of reasons.

 

[lkc15507]

Agreed. I started to elaborate a little in that certainly a physician / patient relationship or nurse / patient vs. a tech or aide / patient relationship would be much more egregious. But, I wanted to point out that any licensed caregiver at any level will place their license in jeopardy in this situation. Licenses are livelihood—a lot to lose. In any caregiver / patient relationship the mere fact that the caregiver has access personal health information places, at least potentially places the caregiver in a position to wield influence. Never a good thing. I don’t work in direct patient care anymore, ie payer industry, but I take it seriously enough that after going out with a gentleman once and learning that he worked for an employer whose plan that my company administers was enough to keep me from going on a second date. The mere fact I had access to his healthcare claims was too much in my opinion to accept even a tiny hint of impropriety. That may be a bit overboard, but my license is definitely my livelihood