The Ethics of Ethical Regulation: Protecting the Practitioner as Well as the Client

Abstract

Professional regulatory bodies, including ethics committees and association boards, as well as government licensing authorities, oversee the ethical behaviour of health care professionals, and specifically monitoring their use of power. There is, however, relatively less scrutiny regarding the use of power by such regulatory bodies in the consideration of grievances against professionals. The quasi-legal nature of the administration of justice is explored and questioned, and significant limitations in the implementation of administrative law are addressed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Key words: regulatory bodies; regulation; ethics; power; due process; natural justice; administrative law PROLOGUEInterest in a topic is always generated out of a personal context. Twenty years ago I was a cofounder of a psychotherapy organisation. Initially this was a collegial project which involved breaking new ground, and finding our way through historical feuds and theoretical differences. I was pleased at how successfully we were able to do this, and our field was strengthened as a result. However, over the years, I observed -and was finally subject toa seemingly inexorable politicisation of differences and the increasing use of power to silence opposition. I saw this played out in a number of venues including the operation of ethics investigations. I found little interest in my concerns, and an odd sort of blindness which I somehow did not expect on the part of experienced therapists. This echoed my own naivety about the possibilities of cooperation, the administration of even-handed fairness, and the benefits of regulation. In the end I came to recognise that the skills and ideals of interpersonal communication which are championed by the field of psychotherapy are not enough when it comes to the exercise of power. In fact, as Nevis and Backman (2003) pointed out, the valuing of intimate skills may be accompanied by a devaluing of the place of strategic skills. Here I examine the effects of the poor use of power by regulatory bodies, identifying the ways this occurs, in the hope that it may provide the ground for change.

Social workers’ perceptions of their peers’ unprofessional behavior

“…Some have criticized social work licensing boards for overreach, specifically placing too much of a focus on creating a single image of who a social worker is and what a social worker does, creating an unnecessary fear of liability or sanctioning (Floyd & Rhodes, 2011). Board members act as investigators and judges and may lack training in maintaining objectivity in adjudicating cases, which can lead to biased decisions (Gunther, 2014).…”

Evaluating Professional Misconduct: The Effects of Licensure State and Board Membership

“…Some have criticized social work licensing boards for overreach by focusing too much on creating a single image of who a social worker is and what a social worker does, creating an unnecessary fear of liability or sanctioning (Floyd & Rhodes, 2011). This fear can create an environment of “over-vigilance” (Gunther, 2014). Magiste (2020) describes the “who, how, and what” of regulation as “an essential professional conversation that needs to continue” (p. 757).…”

Attending to the Ethical Orientation of Health and Care Regulators: The Pursuit of Coherence Between Care Quality, Professionalism and Regulation in the UK

“…One important example of increased autonomy and flexibility in this case-which we will come back to-is the arrangements for dealing with complaints and "Fitness to practice" processes. The latter is an issue that illustrates the "harder edge" of regulation and the ethical relevance of regulatory power (Gunther, 2014). Unlike some of the softer developmental aspects of regulation, this is an area where regulatory influence can be seen in large measure as external to, constraining of and even threatening to, individual practitioners.…”