Despite all the outside forces that turn physicians and patients into adversaries, this doctor remembers what’s most important:

The doctor-patient relationship is more than a commercial transaction between retailers and customers; it is a sacred bond in which both parties are interdependent. It is the place where doctors and patients become allies.

Much has happened in the medical profession and in society at large to loosen and misfocus that relationship. Medical technology has led to a certain estrangement between doctor and patient, there is the constant threat of malpractice suits, Medicaid (Tenncare in our state) has unraveled, and then there is confusion over Medicare Part D and the management of the uninsured. All these have contributed to doctors and patients being thrown together almost as adversaries, rather than the allies they are meant to be.