Not So “Happy Ending” For OB-GYN

by Elizabeth Narins

An OB-GYN in British Columbia was recently suspended for asking out a patient- an ethical “no-no” according to the British Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons’s annual report, which dually notes its recent review of the 28 sexual misconduct allegations of 24 different physicians in 2007. The report vaguely recounts the telltale signs of inappropriate conduct -as if there is any question whether sexual intercourse may be inappropriate during a typical pelvic exam. Also far from surprising: “sexualized touching” appears on the list.
While readers of “The Female ‘Happy Ending’ Massage” story have suggested that a client’s relationship with his or her masseuse is akin to the patient-doctor relationship, touching is certainly tolerated in massage therapy. Whether contact in this context is “sexualized” seems to lie in the eye (or tense muscle) of the beholder.

Can massage therapists really be held to the same standards as medical doctors?

“What on earth is wrong with you people?” one affectionate reader asked, “Would you ask your proctologist for a ‘happy ending’? How about your OB-GYN?”

Turns out, you never know; one member at Answerology.com wonders whether women would proposition such a specialist even outside the office. Bottom line below the border: while doctors –and massage therapists- should know the right buttons to push, a professional encounter seems hardly the the right time to push ‘em.