Anyone scared of stalker patients?

[albertwhatjob]

I know these are just stories so maybe it doesn't happen that much, but I've heard scary things about delusional patients maybe stalking their psychiatrist, or becoming much too attached, or even criminally stalking their doctors and doing them harm. Have any of you experienced this, or heard about others who have? If so, what happened and how did you deal with it? If not, are any of you a little scared about the possibility? Is this just an inherent risk that all psychiatrists have to take?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone!

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[OldPsychDoc]

I know these are just stories so maybe it doesn't happen that much, but I've heard scary things about delusional patients maybe stalking their psychiatrist, or becoming much too attached, or even criminally stalking their doctors and doing them harm. Have any of you experienced this, or heard about others who have? If so, what happened and how did you deal with it? If not, are any of you a little scared about the possibility? Is this just an inherent risk that all psychiatrists have to take?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone!

It's an inherent risk that ANY physician has to take. The one physician I know of who was murdered in his office by a patient was actually an ENT.

On one hand we have more disturbed patients, per capita, in our patient loads than does the average surgeon. On the other, we're more used to dealing with these types of patients than is your average surgeon. I had one patient track me down at home (fortunately in kind of a pleasant hypomanic-frontal-lobe-impaired kind of way) and he responded fine to my request to not do it again. I figure the real stalker types are going to find me anyway--get my vehicle license and tap into the DMV database or such.

 

[Miklos]

It's an inherent risk that ANY physician has to take. The one physician I know of who was murdered in his office by a patient was actually an ENT.

On one hand we have more disturbed patients, per capita, in our patient loads than does the average surgeon. On the other, we're more used to dealing with these types of patients than is your average surgeon. I had one patient track me down at home (fortunately in kind of a pleasant hypomanic-frontal-lobe-impaired kind of way) and he responded fine to my request to not do it again. I figure the real stalker types are going to find me anyway--get my vehicle license and tap into the DMV database or such.

Some rules passed down by other "OldPsychDocs" to me:

-Personal safety first.
-Always be nice to your patients.
-Always write nice things about your patients.
-When the "hairs at the back of your neck" give you that creepy feeling, it is time to excuse yourself and leave the patient interview.

Any others?

 

[JudoKing01]

It's true that it isn't confined to psyche. Recently in NJ, a CT Sx fellow was stabbed to death feet from the ER entrance at the hospital he worked at.