Ethical Practice in Occupational Therapy

Before I was accepted into UTHSC's Occupational Therapy program, I was working as a physical therapy technician at an outpatient orthopedic clinic. Though I value my experience there and the knowledge gained, I can't help but realize that the therapists at the clinic I worked at were not very ethical. You would think that clinicians, especially new graduates, would always go by the book, and practice morally and ethically. As time has passed being in this program and learning about the AOTA Code of Ethics, I have come to know and understand how unethical my clinic was.

The general rule of thumb was that we were not supposed to talk about patients in front of them. My boss, the lead physical therapist, said it was fine if we were out having a beer at our local watering hole and vented about the difficult patients we had that day. The same woman, again, my boss, had me practice measuring knee flexion with a goniometer on a male patient who had just had knee replacement surgery. She pushed him past the point of his pain threshold to where his torso was halfway off the therapy bed. I tried to get an accurate reading, but it was impossible. How do you ethically measure that and BILL for that? You don't. This SAME WOMAN has thanked me for "treating her patients" for her. To elaborate, I would take the patients through therapeutic exercise, while she did manual therapy. Then when she was done, I would hook up the patient to electrical stimulation, or ultrasound, as well as heat or ice. She actually saw the patient for 10-15 minutes total. I have also seen other therapists spend less than 10 minutes with patients and then charge them for 4-6 units of manual therapy, therapeutic exercise, modalities, etc.

As a future clinician, this type of behavior absolutely sickens me. The company that I worked for is a large corporation with over 100 clinics across the southeast. From my experience working there, I came to realize they are money-hungry, and only care about the bottom line. They only care about patient outcomes if it can get them a raise. I will one day work as a practicing occupational therapist, and I promise to uphold my own moral and ethical standards, as well as the standards and Code of Ethics set forth by AOTA. I will treat my patients and clients with the utmost respect, and only have THEIR best interests at heart.