Jenny and Mr Yannis

See what the doctor did

Mr Yannis decided to seek Mrs Horton's consent for the photo of her leg to be used in the advert (she declined so he removed the photo). He checked GMC guidance about advertising and contacted the Advertising Standards Authority to ensure the text of the advert complied with their standards.

References

You must treat information about patients as confidential, including after a patient has died. You must follow our more detailed guidance on Confidentiality: good practice in handling patient information.
(Good Medical Practice, paragraph 22)

When communicating publicly as a medical professional – including using social media, advertising your services, and promoting or endorsing any services or products:
a. you must follow the guidance in paragraph 89 and 90
b. you must declare any conflicts of interest
c. you must not exploit people’s vulnerability or lack of medical knowledge
d. you must make sure what you communicate is in line with your duty to promote and protect the health of patients and the public.
(Good Medical Practice, paragraph 90)

As a general rule, you should seek a patient's express consent before disclosing identifiable information for purposes other than the provision of their care or local clinical audit, such as financial audit and insurance or benefits claims.
(Confidentiality, paragraph 33)

If you cannot anonymise the information, you should seek the patient's consent before disclosing it. When seeking the patient's consent, you must provide them with enough information about the nature and purpose of the disclosure to enable them to make an informed decision. This should include a description of the information to be disclosed and an indication of how it will be used, for example, whether it will be published in a journal or shown at a medical conference. You must then disclose that information only for the purposes for which the patient has given consent.
You should respect a patient's refusal to consent to publication of their identifiable information.
(Confidentiality: Disclosing information for education and training purposes, paragraphs 5 and 7)

When advertising your services, you must follow the regulatory codes and guidelines set by the Committee of Advertising Practice.
(Cosmetic interventions, paragraph 47)

You must make sure the information you publish is factual and can be checked, and does not exploit patients' vulnerability or lack of medical knowledge.
(Cosmetic interventions, paragraph 48)

Your marketing must be responsible. It must not minimise or trivialise the risks of interventions and must not exploit patients' vulnerability. You must not claim that interventions are risk free.
(Cosmetic interventions, paragraph 49)

You must not mislead about the results you are likely to achieve. You must not falsely claim or imply that certain results are guaranteed from an intervention.
(Cosmetic interventions, paragraph 51)