A question

[semper]

So as it always is during the poker games of gods and legends a question arose posed to me by my friend, a final year medical student.

A man, a veteran paediatrician comes to you, his general GP and a friend for many years and he confides in you a simple fact. He has sexual feelings for children. Now he assures you he's never acted upon this, there have never been any complaints about him and he's always known he's this way. To further the point he claims he'll never act upon it, as he never has but just needed, after all these years to confide in someone else other than his wife.

Now you are left with two options.

Taddle or leave him be and trust in him to continue.

What would you do and why?

This question had us debating for nearly 6 hours (a Psychologist, a Philosopher and a Dr, lmao).


(DISCLAIMER: This is a hypothetical situation).

[Quina Quen]

Difficult to call. What do you do? You can't really do anything because the hypothetical person hasn't done anything wrong. It's simply a case of yet, when, could, might, may do, wants to or will do. Until any of those happen it's a none-story.

I guess we all have fantasies. Some different, some regular, some really strange and some others (in this instance) that defy legal boundaries. Can you convict a person for thinking something? I hardly think so. Can you convict a person for acting out their 'darkest' fantasies that infringe laws? Yes.

If the person is aware that they are thinking things that are beyond legal reproach then they perhaps need to either see a counsellor or go and sit on a mountain for a while, and think about what the hell it is they are doing.

[Rudy Peña]

So as it always is during the poker games of gods and legends a question arose posed to me by my friend, a final year medical student.

A man, a veteran paediatrician comes to you, his general GP and a friend for many years and he confides in you a simple fact. He has sexual feelings for children. Now he assures you he's never acted upon this, there have never been any complaints about him and he's always known he's this way. To further the point he claims he'll never act upon it, as he never has but just needed, after all these years to confide in someone else other than his wife.
Now you are left with two options.

Taddle or leave him be and trust in him to continue.

What would you do and why?

This question had us debating for nearly 6 hours (a Psychologist, a Philosopher and a Dr, lmao).


(DISCLAIMER: This is a hypothetical situation).

By telling on him to the law enforcements, you are making him to be a criminal before he committed any crime. The law enforcement will do things to try to make him act out on his feelings or some group will start telling everyone around his place of work and home.

You are effectively putting him in danger of being hurt by someone or even some parent (and child) to "coming forward" about how he did things to the child. It has been known to happen....look at how kids MJ "molested"....How many of those kids really did get to be a victim and how many parents made there kids "come forward" for money?


He is placing his trust in you. Yes you can worry, but unless you have soild proof that he acted on his feelings and committed a crime. You should not be telling law enforcement.

[semper]

allow me to open the floor wider then.... take away the limitation of only the two options. Let's see what other options you can come up with.

I, myself had a 3rd option.. but I shalt say.


Oh.. and btw... thanks for keeping my secret Jim. Means a lot.

[Rudy Peña]

allow me to open the floor wider then.... take away the limitation of only the two options. Let's see what other options you can come up with.

I, myself had a 3rd option.. but I shalt say.


Oh.. and btw... thanks for keeping my secret Jim. Means a lot.

Taking away the limitations, serves no purpose.

If the person has not committed any crime, what gives anyone the right to report him to the law enforcement.

Do you go around telling everyone that this one person is gay, cause he confided in you? If thats a no, then your answer should be a no.

Also if his wife knows, why the hell hasnt she reported it or divorced the person?

Fact, no law has been broken. Unless there threat of it being a crime very soon(24 hours or less), then you have a duty to report it.

But you shouldnt be able to ruin someones life just cause they have certain feelings.

[Quina Quen]

Rudy We make kisses/love nao?

[Jim]

Option 3: Blackmail him to step down from being a GP and get another job that is safer for a pedo to have. The middle option. Only a slight betrayal, only a slight ruining of life.

[Rudy Peña]

Rudy We make kisses/love nao?

Yes

Option 3: Blackmail him to step down from being a GP and get another job that is safer for a pedo to have. The middle option. Only a slight betrayal, only a slight ruining of life.

Ruining someone life, no matter how small or big is wrong, no matter the reasons they are.

Would you like it if someone ruined your life only slightly cause of something you think or feel or your way of lifestyle or whatever? I know i wouldnt want no one doing that to me, you shouldnt be doing it to anyone else.

If you can accept and deal with someone ruining your life, no matter how small or big...then you need to rethink things in life.

[Psyko]

I personally know someone with such feelings. It makes me uncomfortable to discuss it with them in any knid of detail, but I do know they have not acted on their philia.

The way I handled it was to simply accept they acknowledged their "fetish" as they call it and ask them to never act on it in the future. I also suggested they attempt to remove themselves from any situation/occupation which may entice them to act on such feelings. For the hypothetical physician, I would suggest if they ever became tmepted in their place of work, they transfer to a different department/medical occupation.

[RepliMagni]

Thought police now semps?

You can only do something in that situation if you actually believe they have or will act on those feelings. Otherwise, they're just that, thoughts and feelings. Many people fantasise about killing their boss, but it's only when you believe there is a real and present danger of them actually carrying it out that you can do something about it....

[Rudy Peña]

Thought police now semps?

You can only do something in that situation if you actually believe they have or will act on those feelings. Otherwise, they're just that, thoughts and feelings. Many people fantasise about killing their boss, but it's only when you believe there is a real and present danger of them actually carrying it out that you can do something about it....

Unless the person you confided in is serious about killing there boss also.............



Its been known to happen.

[[KMA]Avenger]

Now that is a serious conundrum...what to do about some one who confides in you they have such sick thoughts/feelings


Depending on how close i am to this hypothetical person, i would make it clear to them i would NOT repeat it to anyone else, and would not report them to the authority's under any circumstance. having said that, i would also make it clear to said person that if he ever acted on this fantasy (for lack of a better term) i would not hesitate to lock them in the basement and take a week killing them slowly with a blunt pair of scissors!

The "authority's" have no business here!

[semper]

Well it comes down to opinion, as always. You going to play minority report and punish someone for a crime they may or may not commit? As you'd ruin his life by telling.
That raises a question is it right to protect a childs rights and not a mans? Why? Innocence? The mans a great Dr...what makes him worth less than a common child who could amount to nothing.. again it's playing with what ifs. You'd also be in breach of the hypocratic oath by telling.

You can justify it by saying he'll be eternally tempted.. again.. then should all homosexual men stop treating other men and all heterosexual dr's stop treating women?

However.. you don't know he's never acted on it. You've only got his word to go off and he could well be lying. You also know that most humans are indeed often giving into temptation.. anyone can fall.. but that leads us back to what if's.

Ultimately I said i'd get evidence against him and then tell him to resign without disgrace into early retirement (the third option which I gave to Jim). I decided that even if he does have a good history the continued temptation and attraction is an open door that I cannot ever know he'll not step down and so i'd rather not risk someone's mental stability and potential life over his stability of employment. Where as most adults can recognise and effectively react to situations of abuse, children often cannot and hence my responsibility to make some effort to insure their..'safety' in this facet. The Dr friend who posed the question said he'd keep the secret, making the point he's honour bound to do so and has no proof the man's done wrong and cannot punish him for something he might do whilst the Philosopher said he'd tell as it's his moral, social and political responsibility/obligation to do so as a childs life has more 'weight' with an extended argument mimicking my own.

You find that in this situation people can be split very cleanly into two groups so far out of the ones i've asked, (myself not included). Those that have a strong connection with children or are fairly uneducated will always tell, those without children who are usually educated will not tell.

So let me pose a different form of the question. A known.. high end psychologist from the middle east enters your country. You know as his GP that he posses very powerful and near fanatical religious views except you know he's never acted upon them and he swears he never will, you know they work with explosives as a hobby and have worked in helping rehabilitate former terrorist sect members. Again.. do you tell.. or do you take the risk?

[MEZZANINE]

Would you give an alcoholic a job in a off license ?

Would you give an arsonist a job in a fireworks factory ?

Would you give an necrophiliac a job in a morgue ?


Clearly someone who has such indecent thoughts & desires should not be in a profession where he/she has constant physical ( and probably intimate ) contact with children.

As the GP I would refer him for psychiatric help ( So that I could ensure he was getting treatment ), and insist he either resign from his job as a pediatrician, transfer to an different area of medicine where he does not have contact with children or take a sabbatical from work until any treatment has been successfully received and the psychiatrist has cleared him as being no threat.

If the person refused to do any of the above I believe full disclosure to the General Medical Council would be necessary ( might be required anyways, I dont know the rules on such things ). Which would probably result in being suspending pending treatment, and struck off if treatment was unsuccessful or refused.

[semper]

Well.. you can't get treatment for it. Saying to get treatment for sexual feelings for children is no different than saying a homosexual should get psychiatric help.