Preserving Patient Dignity (Formerly Patient Modesty) Volume 117
A primary care physician writing an article in 2010 on the
"Health Care Blog" wrote the following and much more. Read it and read the interesting back and forth discussion by the responders to the article.
Here is one paragraph from the writing. JR and others: will this view be acceptable to you coming from a physician?
I am not sure why people bristle at calling patients consumers; that’s what they are. They are also customers, participants, autonomous, and humans in need. This is not an “or” proposition. If we forget the humanity of patients and just treat them as customers, they lose. But they also lose if we forget that they are paying us and demand our respect and our attention to their needs. We are as much servants as we are professionals. Signing up to be a doctor means you agree to give yourself to your patients. All of them. It’s hard, and it’s complicated. It’s a human-human relationship.
..Maurice.