Here then are the bitter fruits of breakdowns in the doctor-patient
relationship: treatment failures, patients quitting their doctor, the ma-
jority of citizens critical of doctors and medical care, patients not paying
doctors' fees, patients turning to nonmedical healers, and fast-rising rates
of malpractice suits. These symptoms arise when the doctor is unable to
manage the relationship successfully.

That the way the doctor manages the relationship with patients is a
crucial factor in practice has been demonstrated through research. Doc-
tors Menzel, Coleman, and Katz [8] studied how doctors practiced
medicine and how satisfied the doctors were with their practice. They
found that "the question of the doctor-patient relationship at the broad
level. . . is the most pervasive of all the issues examined; the one that
is most likely to color the entire atmosphere in which the doctor's work
is carried on."

A good doctor-patient relationship is central to satisfactory medical
practice, both from the standpoint of the doctor and of the patient. Most
of the bedeviling problems which arise to plague the relationship can be
controlled through proper treatment.

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