Skip to main content
Canadian Family Physician logoLink to Canadian Family Physician
. 1993 Dec;39:2557–2564.

Patients, friends, and relationship boundaries.

J T Rourke 1, L F Smith 1, J B Brown 1
PMCID: PMC2379959  PMID: 8292931

Abstract

When patient and physician are close friends, both professional and personal relationships can suffer. Jointly exploring and setting explicit boundaries can help avoid conflict and maintain these valuable relationships. This is particularly important when the physician practises in a small community where such concurrent relationships are unavoidable.

Full text

PDF
2560

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Benjamin M. Lay obligations in professional relations. J Med Philos. 1985 Feb;10(1):85–103. doi: 10.1093/jmp/10.1.85. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Gillon R. Doctors and patients. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1986 Feb 15;292(6518):466–469. doi: 10.1136/bmj.292.6518.466. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Gordon H. H. The doctor-patient relationship. J Med Philos. 1983 Aug;8(3):243–255. doi: 10.1093/jmp/8.3.243. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. James David N. The friendship model: a reply to Illingworth. Bioethics. 1989 Apr;3(2):142–146. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8519.1989.tb00336.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Peteet J. R., Ross D. M., Medeiros C., Walsh-Burke K., Rieker P. Relationships with patients in oncology: can a clinician be a friend? Psychiatry. 1992 Aug;55(3):223–229. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Canadian Family Physician are provided here courtesy of College of Family Physicians of Canada

RESOURCES