title: The difficult patient.
abstract: The term difficult patient refers to a group of patients with whom a physician may have trouble forming a normal therapeutic relationship. The care of these patients can present many ethical dilemmas, ranging from issues of patient autonomy to questions of appropriate use of resources, which the emergency physician must be prepared to handle. Encounters with these patients also challenge physicians to explore and cultivate many of the character traits and virtues necessary to being a humane, caring, and ethical practitioner.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, USA.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Simon
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dwyer
authors.forename: L R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Goldfrank
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D003704:Dementia / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D004635:Emergency Medicine; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008257:Machiavellianism; D008297:Male; D008306:Malingering / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D010819:Physician's Role; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D016312:Treatment Refusal / Q000523:psychology; D014754:Violence / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology