I started my career as a rural proceduralist, and it was one of my mentors back then who informed me that, if you don’t treat your friends in a rural area, you don’t have any patients!

However, he did add the qualifier that, if you don’t feel okay doing a rectal exam for them, refer them on.

His words returned to me when reading the recent debate in AusDoc about whether the Medical Board of Australia’s blanket injunction on doctors not to treat family outside emergencies is over the top.

Dr Tony Trachtenberg in his article last month understood why the rules were there, but he argued there were cases where treating family made sense.