Date:
Any doctor, not just a chiropractor, is bound by state laws that prohibit them from engaging in sexual or dating relationships with their patients. Typically, there is a thing that states that if that person has not been a patient for two years, or whatever your state’s requirements are, you can date them. The best rule of thumb for a doctor in the United States who does not want to go to jail or lose their hard-earned license is to avoid dating, sexing, sexting, touching inappropriately, talking dirty to, or flirting with any of their patients (both male and female).
Permission to date:
Chiropractors are not permitted to engage in sexualized behavior with patients or their parents/guardians because doing so can result in significant and long-lasting harm to the patient. Confidence and trust are essential components of the chiropractor-patient relationship. A chiropractor who engages in sexualized behavior with a patient violates the patient’s trust, acts unprofessionally, and may also be committing a criminal offense. Breach of sexual boundaries by a chiropractor can undermine the public’s trust in chiropractors as a whole, as well as trust between patients, their families, and chiropractors themselves.
When a chiropractor engages in sexualized behavior toward a patient or their parent or guardian, this is considered a breach of sexual boundaries. Sexualized behavior is defined as acts, words, or behavior that are intended or designed to arouse or gratify sexual impulses or desires, regardless of the context. Appendix A of this guideline contains an illustrative list of unacceptable sexualized behaviors that should be avoided. Rather than being limited to criminal acts or boundaries that can encompass an array of behaviors with varying degrees of severity, all of which have the potential to cause harm.
