Providing a comprehensive discussion of communication between doctors and patients in primary care consultations, this volume brings together a team of leading contributors from the fields of linguistics, sociology and medicine to describe each phase of the primary care consultation. The authors use conversation analysis techniques to analyze the sequential unfolding of a visit and describe the dilemmas and conflicts faced by physicians and patients as they work through the visit. The result is a view of the medical encounter that reveals the perspective of both physicians and patients rationally.