Today's Zeitgeist dictates that physicians
not only care for their patients, but also care deeply
about them. According to a recent article in a prominent
journal, “patients who are given good medical treatment
are often upset or angry when they feel that their doctors
do not care about them personally.” It may well be
that the Zeitgeist says more about how we feel
as potential patients than what we actually expect of
physicians. Nonetheless, this Zeitgeist poses
an important problem for the physician who cares for a
sentimental patient. “Sentimental” here
describes a contrived exaggeration of the emotional
availability of physicians. Despite the impossibility
of articulating precisely how much emotional engagement
clinical encounters demand, sentimental patients expect
too much of their caregivers.