Doctors are falling foul of “unclear” rules around sexual boundaries with former patients even when there is no longer any therapeutic relationship, a medicolegal expert says.

In the Medical Board of Australia’s code of conduct, doctors are told there is “no place for sex” with anybody under their care, including patients or their family members or guardians.

But the code is vague on relationships with former patients, says Professor Jenni Millbank, a researcher on gender and health law at the University of Technology, Sydney

She stressed that regulators take a “dim view” of doctors who hastily end a therapeutic relationship with a patient to pursue a sexual one.