Certain criteria must be present before a legitimate doctor and patient relationship can be said to exist.
Requirements:
(1) The patient has a medical problem or complaint.
(2) The doctor takes a medical history from the patient.
(3) The doctor performs a physical examination on the patient.
(4) The doctor makes a diagnosis and determines an appropriate therapy for the patient.
(5) The complaint, history, physical findings, diagnosis and therapy share a logical connection (make sense).
Special situations:
(1) A Medical Review Officer (MRO) operating under Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations does not have a doctor-patient relationship when verifying a drug test result, in theory because diagnosis is not performed.
(2) A patient evaluation performed by a doctor over the Internet or other means of communication may not be legitimate if a physical examination has not been performed.
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