T here is considerable healing power in the physician-patient alliance.
A patient who entrusts himself to a physician's care creates ethical obligations that are definite and weighty. Working together, the potential exists to pursue interventions that can significantly improve the patient's quality of life and health status. The bond of trust between the patient and the physician is vital to the diagnostic and therapeutic process. It forms the basis for the physician-patient relationship. In order for the physician to make accurate diagnoses and provide optimal treatment recommendations, the patient must be able to communicate all relevant information about an illness or injury.