Not sure what denominations do that. I can say that none of the protestant denominations do that I am aware of. I have maintained contact with many of my former pastors, and several check in on me routinely. My uncle works as an associational minister in south Georgia for the GBA and they have no such rules.
Also, while a professional relationship might be over, that doesn't sever any personal ties. I am personal friends with my general physician. I dare say that if he moved on to another practice or area, he's still keep in contact with me and that wouldn't be either illegal or unethical. There's also the fact that doctors often encourage second opinions. They know other doctors may well be involved in your care. Former doctors of yours can contact you regardless of your current status as their patient. What they can't do is illegally share your records or data. It would be unethical of them to contact you with the INTENT to damage another Doctors professional reputation or business. The personal tie does not need to be preexisting to the DR/patient relationship for it to be valid. They are absolutely correct on the professional part.
There are some professions where there are stricter guidelines, as I mentioned with lawyer/psychiatrist, but generally speaking, ministers and doctors aren't under the same stringent rules as others.
The United Methodist Church has this rule specifically in their book of discipline. The Episcopal Church has this as a diocesan rule. I could name others.
I already said personal friendships that preceded professional relationships are an exception. But in all the professions I mentioned you do not check in of your own accord because it can undermine the current professional / client relationship. There are so many examples and illustrations of this it would be tedious to go through but suffice it to say if you have a specific counselor, doctor, minister, lawyer, you don’t need a second one confusing you with second opinions about your current care. Doctors, for instance, will refer you or collaborate with another doctor if you need a second opinion. But they might dismiss you as a patient if you are seeing another doctor on the side without their knowledge or consent.
Some professionals do not act professionally. Their ego starts to come before the care of the client. They want to be beloved, thought of as a good minister or counselor. They can’t see that another professional is perfectly capable of meeting that patient’s needs. They forget that no matter how great they think they are at their job, it is not about them. They confuse their personal feelings with their professional roles. Psychiatrists in particular have to be aware of when these boundaries are crossed. The psychiatrist in the Sopranos was also seeing a psychiatrist to help her with her professional boundaries. That was very true to life from my experience.
So the topic was coaches. A coach whose only relationship was that they once recruited you, not long time family friend or I coached you in Little League, is violating what in most other professions would be considered an ethical violation to keep tabs on this person. And with all a coach has to keep up, and all the hours their job demands, they are kidding themselves if they think this is a purely selfless interest and they are just interested in “how the boy turns out.” Imagine if they kept up with every former recruit and every former player they had ever had as a coach. My quick calculation would be that after five years of coaching their Christmas card list would have as many as 5000 names on it and they would be making hundreds of phone calls a week just to former athletes they no longer have a professional relationship with.
No. They are staying in contact with specific athletes that they want something from, whether it’s an ego stroke or just to keep the door open. Sleazy.
