Best gifts from patients

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
F0nzie

F0nzie

Full Member
Verified Member
10+ Year Member
Physician
Joined
Aug 23, 2011
Messages
1,621
Reaction score
1,249
I just got a knife with a note stating that I would know what to do with it.
Members don't see this ad.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I once got a multi-tool. It broke after 1 use.
 
In trying to get a suicidal patient to remove the handgun (a gift from her late husband) from her house, she ends up agreeing saying, "I want you to have it. He would have wanted it that way."
 
I'm thinking of having some pens printed up with my name on them to give to my doctors, so that they keep me in mind as much as the latest drug. 🙂

Seriously though, I don't do gifts with mental health care workers regardless of my like/dislike. It makes things simpler in my head. I already project, and giving and receiving gifts is complicated enough with family let alone any authority figure onto whom you project family members. All other doctors get very nice hand lotion at Christmas (Paula's Choice body butter--it's good stuff).
 
When I left U of C a patient gave me a $50 gift card. I refused it. I believe it's the APA guidelines that stated gifts shouldn't be more than $20 or $25 last I checked but that was about 10 years ago. I told her I didn't feel right taking it.

She insisted. I again refused. By that time I could tell she was mad, real mad cause she really liked me as her doctor so I took it. Never thought about refusing a gift would be seen as an insult.

The most interesting gift I was offered and I mentioned this in a prior thread was a former patient of mine was a hedge fund manager (a major one that's a talking head) and he offered to go over my stock portfolio and invited me to a party where several elite people (Hollywood actors, local politicians, big wigs in the city) were going to attend, so then he just invited me over his place just to have lunch with him and his wife. I refused each one and kicked myself each time.

The night of the party when it was going on, I remember I was sitting on a couch, quite bored and thinking to myself that I could be partying with famous people.
 
heyjack70 said:
Patients tell me they like me but I never get gifts. Their words ring so hollow.
Click to expand...
Tell your patients you like them, then you get gifts.

Unrelated, my PCP told me he liked the hand lotion and said it stood out among all the bottles of wine and various other forms of alcohol he had received. I was kind of surprised. For one thing, it's kind of funny to give a doctor something that is literally a poison to the human body at any dose. For another, it's a little presumptuous to assume one drinks. He wasn't complaining, though, so I guess he enjoyed it.
 
birchswing said:
For one thing, it's kind of funny to give a doctor something that is literally a poison to the human body at any dose.
Click to expand...
The most recent evidence suggests that drinking in moderation helps prolong life.
 
hamstergang said:
The most recent evidence suggests that drinking in moderation helps prolong life.
Click to expand...
I hadn't kept up to date with that, but I googled it and saw that this is the case. Previously I had heard it had to do with the resveratrol in wine, but this more recent research doesn't specify the type of alcohol.

Grumble, grumble, I'm thwarted again (I can't and don't drink), and benzos have the opposite effect on life expectancy.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I used to give my old GP a small gift of chocolates at Christmas time, until the medical centre she was part of cracked down on patient's giving gifts because I think a few crossed the line in terms of trying to woo certain Doctors with expensive offerings. I have given my Psychiatrist a number of small gifts over the years, but nothing too expensive. We'd been discussing a mutual love of snorkeling in one session, so for Christmas that year I bought in a box of Guylian chocolate sea shells for him to share with the front desk staff, another time I ran off a few mixed CDs (Australian music from the 70's and 80's, Classic heavy metal from the same period) for him, probably the most meaningful gift I ever gave was a small jewellery bag of semi precious stones that had been part of a larger collection used as gifts/offerings at my wedding, that I reconsecrated for his family - he has a small area in his house where he keeps gifts like that from patients, I can't remember if its near one of his household altars or not though.
 
F0nzie said:
I just got a knife with a note stating that I would know what to do with it.
Click to expand...

Yikes! I was worried enough bringing my Athame (ceremonial dagger) in to show my Psychiatrist, let alone handing him a knife and saying 'You know what to do with this'. Seriously, what the effity effin eff? 😵
 
A cooler full of fresh shrimp.They were delicious.


He was an electrician on disability and did some under the table work for lots of shrimp boat owners.

I also got a ton of baked goods from a manic grandmother. Increased goal-directed activity at its best.
 
...
 
Last edited:
I got a lovely hand-drawn pen & ink drawing of a coyote in a desert scene, lightly shaded with colored pencils, and inscribed in BOLD capitals below: "THIS IS GOVERNOR ___ ________". :laugh:

Also a Bible, cookies, and three self-authored vanity-published books...
 
OldPsychDoc said:
I got a lovely hand-drawn pen & ink drawing of a coyote in a desert scene, lightly shaded with colored pencils, and inscribed in BOLD capitals below: "THIS IS GOVERNOR ___ ________". :laugh:

Also a Bible, cookies, and three self-authored vanity-published books...
Click to expand...
You want to talk about vanity publishing, God claims he self-authored the Bible, but there are a lot of very vocal ghost writers.
 
whopper said:
The most interesting gift I was offered and I mentioned this in a prior thread was a former patient of mine was a hedge fund manager (a major one that's a talking head) and he offered to go over my stock portfolio and invited me to a party where several elite people (Hollywood actors, local politicians, big wigs in the city) were going to attend, so then he just invited me over his place just to have lunch with him and his wife. I refused each one and kicked myself each time.

The night of the party when it was going on, I remember I was sitting on a couch, quite bored and thinking to myself that I could be partying with famous people.
Click to expand...

Would it be fine if you were to hypothetically attend that party? I was under the impression that psychiatrists are not allowed to have any sort of contact with a former patient. I mean, if they happened to bump into each other at the store or something, that's one thing. But I was told that even after they're done being your patient, psychiatrists and former patients are never supposed to speak to each other or deliberately come into contact unless the former patient needs treatment again. One thing I've also heard of is that psychiatrists shouldn't treat people that have a high chance of popping into your social circle (like a distant family member or your friend's cousin or something). Is that also true?
 
Semi-related, there is a doctor named Pamela Wible who started something called the Ideal Medical Care Movement. In one of the articles she wrote she mentioned giving small token gifts to patients who have to wait in a waiting room. I think in the article she mentioned giving a nice bar of soap (that is, something hand-crafted).

I think the only gifts I've gotten from doctors are prescription samples (oh and a blood glucose meter, but at $30 a month for test strips it's the gift that keeps on taking) and of course goody bags from the dental hygienist with toothbrush, floss, etc.
 
whopper said:
When I left U of C a patient gave me a $50 gift card. I refused it. I believe it's the APA guidelines that stated gifts shouldn't be more than $20 or $25 last I checked but that was about 10 years ago. I told her I didn't feel right taking it.

She insisted. I again refused. By that time I could tell she was mad, real mad cause she really liked me as her doctor so I took it. Never thought about refusing a gift would be seen as an insult.

The most interesting gift I was offered and I mentioned this in a prior thread was a former patient of mine was a hedge fund manager (a major one that's a talking head) and he offered to go over my stock portfolio and invited me to a party where several elite people (Hollywood actors, local politicians, big wigs in the city) were going to attend, so then he just invited me over his place just to have lunch with him and his wife. I refused each one and kicked myself each time.

The night of the party when it was going on, I remember I was sitting on a couch, quite bored and thinking to myself that I could be partying with famous people.
Click to expand...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17454174
 
I gave a patient a stuffed monkey the other day. A beanie baby type thing. A friend sent it to work with a flower arrangement after my patient died and it had been sitting there for several months. And the other day, a patient admired it and told me she collected monkeys. I'm moving and I don't need a monkey. So I gave it to her. She was super excited. 🙂. But generally speaking, I don't give my patients gifts. Not even samples. Well, coupons sometimes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
whopper said:
When I left U of C a patient gave me a $50 gift card. I refused it. I believe it's the APA guidelines that stated gifts shouldn't be more than $20 or $25 last I checked but that was about 10 years ago.
Click to expand...

I don't actually know what the exact guidelines on price of gifts for FRANZCP is, I should probably look it up just out of curiosity. That aside I would consider a $50 gift to any Doctor to be bordering on a boundary crossing, especially if the person was overly insistent that you accept it. Just personally I was planning to give my Psychiatrist a statue of either Padmahsambhava Guru Rinpoche or the Medicine Buddha for Christmas this year, but considering they have a lower limit starting price of around $200 how about oh hell to the no.
 
whopper said:
When I left U of C a patient gave me a $50 gift card. I refused it. I believe it's the APA guidelines that stated gifts shouldn't be more than $20 or $25 last I checked but that was about 10 years ago. I told her I didn't feel right taking it.

She insisted. I again refused. By that time I could tell she was mad, real mad cause she really liked me as her doctor so I took it. Never thought about refusing a gift would be seen as an insult.

The most interesting gift I was offered and I mentioned this in a prior thread was a former patient of mine was a hedge fund manager (a major one that's a talking head) and he offered to go over my stock portfolio and invited me to a party where several elite people (Hollywood actors, local politicians, big wigs in the city) were going to attend, so then he just invited me over his place just to have lunch with him and his wife. I refused each one and kicked myself each time.

The night of the party when it was going on, I remember I was sitting on a couch, quite bored and thinking to myself that I could be partying with famous people.
Click to expand...

One of many reasons I am not an APA member. Having strict guidelines like this is just ignorant.

$10 gift card from a poor Medicaid patient - I would decline immediately.

$300 gift card from a wealthy patient - I would accept graciously.

I run my own practice, and I feel like I provide above standard care. I don't always charge patients for everything on the list of charges I publish (forms, cancellations). Ethics should go both ways though. By not always billing everyone for everything, I am essentially providing cash gifts to patients. Surely an APA no-no.
 
psyche108 said:
Would it be fine if you were to hypothetically attend that party? I was under the impression that psychiatrists are not allowed to have any sort of contact with a former patient. I mean, if they happened to bump into each other at the store or something, that's one thing. But I was told that even after they're done being your patient, psychiatrists and former patients are never supposed to speak to each other or deliberately come into contact unless the former patient needs treatment again. One thing I've also heard of is that psychiatrists shouldn't treat people that have a high chance of popping into your social circle (like a distant family member or your friend's cousin or something). Is that also true?
Click to expand...

I disagree with hard rules like these. Say you are the only psychiatrist in a town of 50,000 people and take insurance. Over 10 years, you may see 1,000+ patients. Combined with their family members, you would have few to no friends if you couldn't appropriately socialize with patients or their family.

Just make sound decisions.
 
GroverPsychMD said:
As opposed to not drinking at all?
Click to expand...
From what I've read those who drink in moderation definitely live longer than abstainers. Although there are about a million confounders that really cloud the correlation/causation picture.
 
Armadillos said:
From what I've read those who drink in moderation definitely live longer than abstainers. Although there are about a million confounders that really cloud the correlation/causation picture.
Click to expand...

Or as opposed to heavy drinking?
Please post sources regarding what you wrote.
 
GroverPsychMD said:
Or as opposed to heavy drinking?
Please post sources regarding what you wrote.
Click to expand...
As opposed to not drinking at all or heavy drinking. I don't remember the source, so all of us are just as capable of finding one if interested.
 
I once got a nice tie from a patient that I knew really didn't have a lot of financial resources....that gesture meant the world to me. I still have the tie..its a nice crimson deep red.

My favorite was when working at a community mental health center the entire PRP group made me a 3 foot x 2 foot card...IN THE SHAPE OF A PRESCRIPTION BOTTLE...lol. At first I was a little confused, but later realized that most of them have my name and info etc plastered on bottles in their homes...I still love that card.
 
My favorite gift was a new phone. The patient didn't pay for it though. He may have hypothetically pulled out a specific body part and slapped my phone with it a few times. This was an employed job where I explained to corporate my need for a clean phone. No matter how much cleaning solution you use, your mind knows what touched the phone.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
Attracting Medicaid Patients
Replies
7
Views
868
jbomba
J
FlowRate
"Best" TMS Device?
Replies
11
Views
1K
Merovinge
Merovinge
lockian
Talking to patients about access to medication given current events
Replies
43
Views
2K
mistafab
mistafab
P
In-person patients
Replies
15
Views
2K
FlowRate
FlowRate
Osminog
Care-seeking patients who over-identify with diagnoses
Replies
21
Views
2K
brosa
brosa
Top