A 39-Year-Old Woman Has Started Using the Encrypted Email Within

A 39-year-old woman has started using the encrypted email within her hospital's electronic health record system to contact her primary care physician about health concerns.  She works as an attorney and has a history of sarcoidosis, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and tension headaches.  The patient frequently sends long updates on her symptoms to her physician with medical questions referencing articles she finds on the internet, often 5-10 times a day.  Her physician, who has treated her over the past 5 years, has been spending increasing amounts of time responding to her concerns.  During this time, she has also no-showed for 2 of her scheduled in-person appointments.  When the physician is suddenly called out of the office due to a family emergency, the patient becomes frustrated by the lack of response to her emails and sends the physician several messages complaining about lack of availability.  On returning, what would be the best response for the physician to give the patient?

A) At this point, I am unable to continue your email privileges
B) From now on all of your concerns need to be addressed in office visits
C) I am sorry but I will need to start billing extra for the time spent responding to your emails
D) I apologize for not getting back to you sooner; I had a family emergency.
E) We need to discuss the appropriate use of email communication

Correct Answer:

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