Medical practitioners and their families as patients.

OBJECTIVE

To explore diagnoses, treatment methods, compliance and outcome in a cohort of medical practitioners and their families seen in a private practice setting to identify characteristics of this group.

METHODS

A systematic retrospective case-note review was conducted of all medical practitioners, their partners and children seen in a private practice setting over 15 years, documenting mode of referral, diagnosis, attendances, mode of treatment, and outcome.

RESULTS

Seventy-seven medical families were identified, including 45 doctors, 21 partners and 11 offspring as the primary patient; 38 of the doctor group were self-referred. Doctors and their families were likely to accept treatment guidelines as recommended and to continue until a joint decision was made to terminate.

CONCLUSIONS

Doctors presenting themselves for treatment in a private practice are a highly motivated and compliant group, who make significant changes in therapy. They defy directly the usual findings on "impaired physicians" who may be a different group, the latter generally being referred for psychiatric treatment as "impaired physicians" through statutory bodies such as medical boards. With increasing de-stigmatization and increasing education on the benefits of self-care, doctors may be seeking appropriate early intervention.