A Sentimental Patient

Abstract

Today's Zeitgeist dictates that physicians not only care for their patients, but also care deeply about them. According to a recent article in a prominent journal, “patients who are given good medical treatment are often upset or angry when they feel that their doctors do not care about them personally.” It may well be that the Zeitgeist says more about how we feel as potential patients than what we actually expect of physicians. Nonetheless, this Zeitgeist poses an important problem for the physician who cares for a sentimental patient. “Sentimental” here describes a contrived exaggeration of the emotional availability of physicians. Despite the impossibility of articulating precisely how much emotional engagement clinical encounters demand, sentimental patients expect too much of their caregivers.