Caring for the patient when the patient doesn’t care

November 15, 2013

I was spending a month on the medicine wards at the beginning of my fourth year of medical school, and Mr. P was among my patients during his two-week stay at Boston Medical Center, the safety-net hospital for the metro area. We’re used to treating patients who face many obstacles to healthcare—after all, nearly three-quarters of our patients “come from underserved populations, including low-income families, elders, people with disabilities and immigrants,” according to the hospital’s web site. (Scientific American)