Doctors' Attitude Towards the Use of Chaperones for Intimate Examinations

We read this article with interest having conducted a similar study amongst 290 urology out-patients undergoing digital rectal and vaginal examinations. Our findings were comparable, concluding that patients should be offered a chaperone even if then declined. We also surveyed 47 doctors to discover doctors' attitude towards chaperones. Sinha et al. do not emphasise that the chaperone is for the protection of both patient and clinician. Thirty-two percent of patients in the study of Sinha et al. and 22% of patients in our study preferred the chaperone to be their spouse or relative whilst 60% of the doctors we surveyed preferred the chaperone not to be related to the patient. Guidance from the General Medical Council (GMC) suggests that ‘a relative or friend of the patient may be an acceptable chaperone’ contrary to the recommendations of the Ayling Inquiry that chaperones should not be friends or relatives of the patient.1,2 Significantly for medicolegal implications, we found that 74% of doctors did not document chaperone use. GMC guidance recommends that doctors ‘should record any discussion about chaperones and its outcome’, advice reiterated by the Medical Defence Union.1,3 We would like to emphasise that chaperones are for the protection of doctors as well as patients, and their use and documentation of it should be an integral part of the examination routine.