Hoffmann Willem A, Nortjé Nico
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa.
Department of Dietetics, University of the Western Cape, South Africa.
S Afr J Physiother. 2015 Jun 24;71(1):248. doi: 10.4102/sajp.v71i1.248. eCollection 2015.
The role of ethics in a medical context is to protect the interests of patients. Thus, it is critically important to understand the guilty verdicts related to professional standard breaches and ethics misconduct of physiotherapists.
To analyse the case content and penalties of all guilty verdicts related to ethics misconduct against registered physiotherapists in South Africa.
A mixed methods approach was followed consisting of epidemiological data analysis and qualitative content analysis. The data documents were formal annual lists (2007-2013) of guilty verdicts related to ethical misconduct. Quantitative data analysis focused on annual frequencies of guilty verdicts, transgression categories and the imposed penalties. Qualitative data analysis focused on content analysis of the case content for each guilty verdict.
Relatively few physiotherapists (0.05%) are annually found guilty of ethical misconduct. The two most frequent penalties were fines of R5000.00 and fines of R8000.00 - R10 000.00. The majority of transgressions involved fraudulent conduct (70.3%), followed by performance of procedures without patient consent (10.8%). Fraudulent conduct involved issuing misleading, inaccurate or false medical statements, and false or inaccurate medical aid scheme claims.
Unethical conduct by physiotherapists in South Africa occurs rarely. The majority of penalties imposed on sanctioned physiotherapists were monetary penalties.
伦理道德在医疗环境中的作用是保护患者的利益。因此，了解与物理治疗师违反专业标准和道德不当行为相关的有罪判决至关重要。
分析南非所有与注册物理治疗师道德不当行为相关的有罪判决的案件内容和处罚情况。
采用了一种混合方法，包括流行病学数据分析和定性内容分析。数据文件是与道德不当行为相关的有罪判决的正式年度清单（2007 - 2013年）。定量数据分析侧重于有罪判决的年度频率、违规类别和所施加的处罚。定性数据分析侧重于对每个有罪判决的案件内容进行内容分析。
每年相对较少的物理治疗师（0.05%）被判定存在道德不当行为。最常见的两种处罚是5000.00兰特的罚款和8000.00 - 10000.00兰特的罚款。大多数违规行为涉及欺诈行为（70.3%），其次是未经患者同意进行操作（10.8%）。欺诈行为包括发布误导性、不准确或虚假的医疗声明，以及虚假或不准确的医疗援助计划索赔。
南非物理治疗师的不道德行为很少发生。对受制裁的物理治疗师施加的大多数处罚是金钱处罚。
