title: [Removing a patient from the practice list].
abstract: There are boundaries to what a physician can be expected to tolerate from a patient in terms of behaviour. If a patient approaches or oversteps these boundaries the physician is entitled to take action. Article 460 of the Dutch Medical Treatment Act states that a physician may unilaterally end an agreement to treat if there are important grounds to do so. A 2005 Royal Dutch Medical Association guideline contains concrete recommendations and suggestions for physicians who are seriously considering removing a patient from their practice list. Disease-related powerlessness or inability should not be a reason for breaking off a contract to treat a patient.
authors.affiliation: Academisch Medisch Centrum/Universiteit van Amsterdam, afd. Sociale Geneeskunde, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. j.legemaate@amc.uva.nl
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Legemaate
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D016365:Liability, Legal; D009426:Netherlands; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010820:Physicians / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D016079:Refusal to Treat / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*