title: Like marriage, without the romance.
abstract: Physicians and philosophers have contributed to the field of medical ethics several different paradigms for the physician-patient relationship. Here I suggest another: marriage. Patients usually enter into relationships as we enter marriage: we allow our high hopes to obscure the possibility of deep disappointment. The argument of the essay encourages renewed focus on the contractual element of physician-patient relationships.
authors.affiliation: University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Portmann
mesh_terms: D032982:Contracts; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006801:Humans; D008318:Malpractice / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D008393:Marriage; D010686:Philosophy, Medical; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations