The doctor, the patient and the relative: an exploratory survey of doctor-relative relationships.

The contacts which doctors have with their patients' relatives are important, and raise interesting and sometimes difficult ethical issues. In order to develop hypotheses about doctor-relative relationships, a sample of 18 general practitioners in east London were interviewed. Their views are summarized in this paper, and from them a number of hypotheses concerning these relationships are proposed. Further research will be needed to test these hypotheses.