Chaperones and intimate examinations

ByDr Sissy Frank

Published01 September 2022

A junior doctor worries his insistence on having a chaperone present for an intimate examination may have been inappropriate.

Doctors are expected to use their professional judgment when deciding whether a chaperone should be offered.

Dr Sissy Frank

Medico-legal adviser

Sissy trained in law in the US, graduating from Stanford University in 1990. She then changed careers and trained in medicine, obtaining an MD from Harvard Medical School in 1998 and completing her residency in paediatrics in 2001. She came to England in 2001 and completed further training in general practice, receiving her MRCGP in 2006. Before becoming an MLA, she worked as a GP partner in Kent.