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Case 5

December 2004, David Wong was accused of treating a 45 year old female patient, Mrs Chan, in a busy oncology department without a gown. David qualified as a therapy radiographer in Hong Kong and had worked in that capacity for 8 years prior to this incident. Since qualifying, he had worked in two previous hospitals, before moving to his present hospital, where he had been employed for 1 month. During the treatment, David claims that he followed the Mrs Chan's lead, i.e. that she willingly undressed and presented herself ready for the procedure without a gown. David argues that she therefore implied that she was willing for him to proceed with the examination.

In his previous hospital, there was a policy of treating patients without gowns and so this was not an unusual situation for him. He states that Mrs Chan refused to wear a gown, as she was rather obese, so he proceeded to help her onto the couch. He then covered her with a blanket. He claims that he only touched her in order to position her for the treatment of her pelvic area and, due to her size, had to locate surface anatomy by palpation. As the department was very busy at the time of the examination, there was nobody available to act as a chaperone, and if David waited, it would have delayed the procedure for a long time.

David had a previously unblemished record and there had never been any previous complaints about him from patients. Likewise, Mrs Chan had never made any previous complaints about hospital employees and was of sound mind, i.e. she suffered from no known psychological disorder. There was no previous relationship between either party and the incident occurred on their first meeting. Mrs Chan has accused David of indecent assault and has claimed that he was negligent in his actions. She says that her privacy was violated and that she was extremely traumatised by the events.

What are the ethical and legal implications of this case?