Patients who stalk doctors: Their motives and management

Abstract

The prevalence of stalking is increasing and healthcare professionals are overrepresented among stalking victims. The most common motivations for stalking are patients' developing a romantic attachment, due to delusional beliefs (as in erotomania) or misplaced expectations (often by socially inept patients), and patients' developing a resentment for some supposed injury. Strategies to prevent victimisation and minimise the impact of stalking include: • taking care to preserve privacy and security, • making clear to patients that the relationship will always be professional and what the boundaries are, • informing colleagues and other relevant parties, • transferring the patient's care to ano..