ETHICAL MOMENT
What are the potential ethical considerations of a dentist connecting , that is , “ friending ,” on social media with a patient of record ?
By Tom Howley , DDS ( Reprinted with permission from the Journal of the American Dental Association , June 2019 ; Volume 150 , Issue 6 , pages 562-563 )
QUESTION :
As caring , compassionate , and friendly practitioners , we naturally care and are curious about our patients and their lives . We certainly garner information on many of our patients ’ typical family activities , vacations , purchases , life changes , and other events as a part of interacting with them in a treatment setting .
In fact , this is often how we best display our concern for them beyond perceiving them as merely dental cases needing treatment . However , in recent history , we are faced with another entirely new way to interact with patients , and that is the various social media sites that are so common now . One of the most prominent is , of course , Facebook . For the sake of simplicity , we will consider Facebook here as our example case . The question is whether “ friending ” patients on Facebook is ethical . Some ethical issues include the following : Should you have a “ Practice Only ” page that you link and share with patients ? Is it appropriate to link your personal page to their pages ?
14 JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2023 | PENNSYLVANIA DENTAL JOURNAL