The rules of the game

The point about conflicts is that they are, by definition, dysfunctional situations. Mr Stafford cannot be assisted until a functional relationship exists, and in general a conflict cannot be resolved until the relationship has been repaired. Yet although the literature on the ‘health professional–patient’ relationship is vast, it tends not to deal with such questions as how one repairs relationships, nor with the need to understand and play by the rules of the game. The point about this patient is that she doesn’t play the game by the rules – the game of ‘doctors and patients’ at one level, but the game of human interaction at another. The point is that the patient’s behaviour is inappropriate, and for that matter she is inappropriately persistent in her approach. A final word on the doctor–patient relationship. A genuine partnership between a doctor and a patient involves more than words.