CAO Code of Ethics

In order to conform to the Professional Code of Ethics, the practitioner or the specialist in various osteopathic  techniques must:

1. clearly display, in his place of practice, the present Code of Ethics as well as his certificate of membership to the Association;

2. honour the profession and conduct himself in a way that will merit the respect of general public;

3. abstain from practicing his profession in a state or under circumstances susceptible of compromising the quality and dignity of his profession;

4. exercise his profession with the respect for human dignity conform to the norms of decency and never in any case demand on the nudity of a client;

5. never claim to heal a person and never attempt to predict the number of visits it will take before the client begins to benefit from his treatment;

6. make no distinctions of the race, religion, age, sex, social status, or even of the appearance of the client; he can however refuse treatment of a client suffering from psychological disorders or who does not respect rules of hygiene or morality;

7. evaluate the problems of the client based on scientific methods and appeal to the traditional medical field whenever necessary;

8. never offer any diagnosis on the state of the client’s health and never criticize, in any case or at any time, the diagnosis of a traditional medical practitioner;

9. never urge the client to turn to his services at the detriment of another health practitioner, let the client, at all times, be free to choose;

10. never at any time divulge to whomever for whatever reason any information concerning the patient or any confidences made by the latter, the practitioner being vowed to professional secrecy;

11. be honest in all representation, advertisement or other, regarding his profession and his level of competence;

12. avoid condemning any other clinical method or alternative that are not akin to his beliefs;

13. abstain from criticizing another professional colleague in the presence of the client; address any serious complaints directly to the Association’s disciplinary committee; the committee will then judge if an inquiry be necessary;

14. admit that the exercising of one’s profession requires self-discipline and that it is the practitioner’s responsibility to set his own;

15. accept and conform to the clauses stated above, if the practitioner wishes to remain within the heart of the Association;

16. expect to undergo serious investigations which could lead to his removal, if accusations put forth by a patient regarding the practitioner’s behavior would be proven grounds for his removal; this removal would then be final.

All rights are reserved by the Canadian Association of Osteopath (CAO). Any using, representation or adaptation, in whole or in part, of the present Professional Code of Ethics is considered illicit and constitutes a forgery