What the physician begins to suspect is that the patient, a construction worker, staged his own accident in order to receive workman s compensation. The physician questions whether the man is culpable or merely a victim of misfortune. However, despite his doubts it is still the physician s responsibility to care for this patient to the best of his abilities. As soon as the man steps foot in the hospital he automatically takes on the position of the sick role. Talcott Parsons is the founder of the sick role theory, and his work provides the basis of the theory s concepts.
Parsons identifies four components to the sick role.
The second aspect is that the sick person cannot be expected to get well by an act of decision or will. The first two aspects of the sick role are particularly pertinent to the case of the man having chest pains, in that these rules clearly delineate the man s exemption from responsibility for his illness. Closely related to the sick role is its foil, the physician s role. The patient has a need for technical services from the physician, and the physician is the technical expert who is qualified and defined by society as prepared to help the patient. The goal of the patient-physician encounter is thus to promote some significant change for the better in the patient s health.