TY - JOUR T1 - The danger of chaperones JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 407 LP - 407 VL - 55 IS - 514 AU - Mike Fitzpatrick Y1 - 2005/05/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/55/514/407.abstract N2 - The growing pressure on GPs to use chaperones when conducting intimate examinations (vaginal, rectal, breast, testicular) reveals an alarming deterioration in doctor–patient relationships.The peculiar intimacy of the relationship between doctor and patient renders the patient vulnerable to the doctor's abuse of power. Hence, making a sharp distinction between doctor and lover has been one of the first principles of medical ethics since the emergence of the medical profession. Medical authorities have always — quite rightly — taken severe disciplinary measures against doctors who have violated this basic code.This is another subject that is sensitively discussed in John Berger's ‘story of a country doctor’: ‘The emphasis in medical ethics on sexual correctness is not so much to restrict the doctor as to offer a promise to the patient: a promise which … ER -