Introduction
Patient safety has received growing attention (1), and the prevention of medical errors stands high on the medical–
political agenda (2). From clinical experiences, however, it has been noted that even medically correct health care
encounters can have unwanted consequences for patients.This was first noted in female patients with a history of
physical and sexual abuse (3, 4). Some years later, this phenomenon was studied in a large project on violence in
the Nordic countries and was labelled abuse in health care (AHC) (5)