Ethical standards clinic
I have completed my investigation and prepared a draft report
which I intend to send to the subject member for her comments. She
has called me today to tell me that she will be going into hospital
for surgery and her doctor advised her to avoid any stressful
situations before, during and after her hospital treatment for at
least 6 months. She therefore said that she will not have any
further dealings with me over the investigation about her conduct.
What should I do?
Whilst it is important to carry out investigations in a timely
manner, there will be circumstances which mean that you are unable
to do so. Provided you make every effort to complete your
investigation in a timely manner, if an unexpected event occurs,
you may have to postpone the completion of your investigation. In
the circumstances described here, you may wish to firstly clarify
when it is likely the surgery will be taking place. It may be that
the surgery will not be carried out until two or three months time,
or that the member has not yet been given a date. You may also wish
to request a doctor’s certificate setting out their advice as to
avoiding stressful situations. It may be that the member has
misunderstood the doctor’s advice or used it as an excuse to delay
the completion of the investigation.
If the member is being represented, it may also be worth
identifying whether the member’s representative could assist the
member in reviewing your report and provide any necessary response,
thus alleviating some of the stress for the member. In the event
that the surgery is imminent and the doctor confirms that the
member should avoid stress and therefore should not be involved in
the investigation any further, you may need to decide to suspend
your investigation for the time being. If there is likely to be a
suspension of your investigation, notifications should be given to
the Ethical Standards Officer, Standards Committee, subject member
and the complainant.
An agreement with the subject member as to the next time you
will contact her could be useful so as to avoid any suggestion by
the subject member that you unexpectedly contacted her whilst she
was ill and caused her further stress. It is important to identify
the steps taken to ensure that the investigation is completed in a
reasonable time, even if it results in the investigation being
suspended, so as to avoid criticisms or allegations of
unnecessarily and unreasonable lengthy investigations which may be
made. Of course each case should be considered taking account of
the relevant circumstances, and these points used as a general
guide.