Ethical misconduct by registered psychologists in South Africa during the period 2007–2013

Abstract

Psychologists are faced with numerous challenges in their daily practices. Literature indicates that the most frequent ethical transgressions in the 1970s-1990s were the invalid presentation of professional qualifications, unprofessional advertisements, and irresponsible public communications. However, at the turn of the century, it has changed to include sexual or dual relationships with patients as well as unprofessional, unethical, or negligent practice. The objective of this research project is to analyse the case content of all guilty verdicts related to professional standard breaches and ethics misconduct against Health Professions Council of South Africaregistered psychologists in the period 2007-2013 via a qualitative research paradigm focusing on a historical research approach. The findings of this study indicate that only a small fraction of psychologists registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa are annually guilty of ethics misconduct. The results indicate that the majority, around one-third, of transgressions can be regarded as improper professional role conduct. It was followed by negligent and/or incompetent treatment and/or patient care (27%), fraudulent conduct (20%), and disclosure of confidential information without permission (13%). As the age of electronic and social media advances, along with online diagnosis and therapy, clients may have better access to resources of varying authority and reliability, possibly giving them more confidence to question the practices of their service providers.

Patterns of unprofessional conduct by medical practitioners in South Africa (2007–2013)1

“…This is in contravention of the HPCSA's Ethical and Professional Rules, which state that a medical practitioner 'shall not fail to Africa during 1990 to 1999. 4 However, note that direct comparison with the results from other studies is difficult due to variations in the definitions and/or applications of key constructs, such as 'complaint' , 'preliminary enquiry' , 'disciplinary enquiry' and 'decision' . The overall mean number of unprofessional conduct decisions per guilty medical practitioner was slightly below two decisions, which indicates that medical practitioners who engage in unprofessional conduct are generally repeat offenders.…”

“…It should also include in-depth explorations of critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making skills to actually deal with the wide variety of complex ethical dilemmas in health-care contexts. 4 Furthermore, it should also address the divide between abstract theoretical ethics principles contained within medico-legal documents and real-life ethical dilemmas. 3,13 Since guilty medical practitioners should reasonably have known that their conduct would be regarded as unprofessional before engaging in the various unprofessional actions, one may argue that any sanction to attend a medical ethics course could be regarded as 'too little too late' .…”

“…Personal and professional integrity motivates health practitioners to maintain and develop high levels of ethical professional conduct as well as to stay abreast of the latest clinical skills and advances through continuous professional development activities. 4 There is an increasing demand by the public to hold health-care providers liable for unprofessional conduct and as such they may lodge a complaint with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA). In South Africa, the HPCSA is a statutory body that was established in terms of the Health Professions Act (No.…”

“…56 of 1974) to regulate the behaviour of health professionals, and which is committed to serving and protecting the public and offering guidance to registered health-care professionals. 4 The HPCSA provides a process through which the public can lodge complaints of an ethical nature against health-care professionals whom they deem to have acted in an unethical way. 8 Within seven days after receiving a complaint, the Registrar of the HPCSA needs to forward the complaint to the health-care professional concerned and request a written explanation from him/her.…”

Complaint risk among mental health practitioners compared with physical health practitioners: a retrospective cohort study of complaints to health regulators in Australia

“…Relative to other health professionals, psychiatrists and psychologists have been shown to have high rates of complaints and disciplinary actions 1–5. Prominent issues include sexual boundary violations,6–14 concerns about practitioners’ involvement in legal proceedings or reports,11 15–17 and breaches of confidentiality 9 17…”