Tara Parker-Pope recently wrote two articles discussing fundamental rules for doctors and for patients.
The rules for doctors can be boiled down to respect for the patient’s feelings and understanding that they did not come to the office in order to waste the doctor’s time for the sheer pleasure of it. Dr. Robert Lamberts, who blogs under the name of “Dr. Rob,” is the physician who initially invented the rules for doctors quoted by Parker-Pope. His original article can be found on his blog, Musings of a Distractible Mind.
Dr. Lamberts also wrote the rules for patients, which mostly focus on the importance of being honest and open with your doctor, maintaining the lines of communication between you and the doctor and finding a doctor you can trust.
Both lists are worth reading in their entirety.