title: [Ibsen's last years of life--the physicians and the demanding patient].
abstract: Henrik Ibsen's last six years were characterized by disease, and the relationship between the famous patient and his doctors during these years has a certain historical interest. Ibsen was a demanding patient, partly due to his personality and social situation, gradually also due to the clinical picture. Ibsen had great and almost unreasonable expectations and demands on his doctors, but if the doctor won Ibsen's confidence, he followed the ordinances with great accuracy. After his return to Norway in 1891, Ibsen became acquainted with Christian Sontum (1858-1902), whom he chose to be his doctor. After Sontum's death in 1902, Professor Peter F. Holst (1861-1935) was Ibsen's doctor for about one year. However, Holst did not get along with Ibsen and his family and Dr. Edvard Bull (1845-1925) succeeded him. Bull and Ibsen were close friends during the last three years of Ibsen's life. The story about Ibsen's doctors illustrates challenges in the doctor-patient-relationship. Edvard Bull's patience, great human and sympathetic insight, and the fact that he from the very beginning saw Ibsen as an individual and not only the diseases, represents a thought-provoking example.
authors.affiliation: Avdeling for atferdsfag, Institutt for medisinske basalfag, Universitetet i Oslo, Postboks 1111 Blindern, 0317 Oslo. erlend.hem@medisin.uio.no
authors.forename: Erlend
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hem
authors.forename: Jan C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Frich
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005197:Famous Persons; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009664:Norway; D010820:Physicians / Q000266:history*