Ethical misconduct by registered physiotherapists in South Africa (2007– 2013): A mixed methods approach
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Date
2015
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
PubMed
Abstract
Background: 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.
Aim: To analyse the case content and penalties of all guilty verdicts related to ethics misconduct
against registered physiotherapists in South Africa.
Methods: 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.
Results: 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.
Description
Keywords
Ethics, human behaviour, Physiotherapy, HPCSA-registered
Citation
Hoffmann, W.A., & Nortjé, N., 2015, ‘Ethical misconduct by registered physiotherapists in South Africa (2007–2013): A mixed methods approach’, South African Journal of Physiotherapy 71(1), Art. #248, 7 pages.