Error of Accommodation in the Care of the Difficult Patient in the 1990s

Four case histories are presented which establish the principle that physicians, for whatever reason, cannot accomodate the demands of empowered patients that contradict clinical judgement & violate the scientific practice of medicine. One case involved a physician patient who completed suicide while out on a day pass. Because of the physician’s reputation & his insistence, the psychiatrist, against her better judgement, gave him a pass. A subsequent malpractice suit was settled pretrial.