Question

Think of a reason a doctor might no longer want to see a patient. Describe at least one example of this. How could the doctor handle this situation without abandoning him or her?

Answer 1

Answer:

Why He or She would stop: Stopping the physician-patient relationship can be seen as abandonment if not done properly. Missed appointments, chronic lateness, drug-seeking behavior, belligerent attitudes and refusal of treatment can strain a physician-patient relationship to the breaking point.

>The law governing medical abandonment is predicated on the more dependent status of the patient in the relationship with the physician.

>Abandonment in the medical setting means the ending of needed care without either making or allowing for reasonable arrangements for that care to continue.

>Once you, as a physician, have engaged to provide care to a patient you are bound to provide that care for as long as that physician-patient relationship continues and only the proper termination of that relationship will end that duty. Terminating incorrectly can therefore lead to you being held to have abandoned your patient.