De maatschappij in de spreekkamer

Doctors are confronted with issues that arise in society. These social issues can affect patients’ health. Solving these problems requires more than just prescribing a pill, as illustrated by the cases of three patients. The first patient is a 42-year-old male with cardiac symptoms, chronic lower back pain and an excessive use of tranquillizers. The welfare worker intervened and his demand for health care and use of tranquillizers diminished. The second patient is a 53-year-old female with symptoms of chronic back pain, migraine and depression. A labour dispute concerning her health eventually led to a referral to a project named ‘social hospital’, but actual assistance never took place due to the patient’s alleged lack of time to participate. The third case concerns an 86-year-old female with postherpetic neuralgia who also suffered from loneliness. The patient’s named welfare worker tried to get in touch with her, but the patient kept her at a distance. These three cases illustrate that it is very important to get to know the social network in a community in order to refer patients with social issues to the right person or place. Furthermore, prevention and early intervention strategies should be applied where possible. Doctors and local governments must act together in order to succeed in solving patient ill health as a result of social issues.

Conflict of interest and financial support: none declared.