A physician writes: I’m a psychiatrist in private practice and do not have a secretary or nurse. One of my patients who has bipolar II depression is undergoing psychotherapy. I have prescribed an atypical antipsychotic for this patient. The drug’s manufacturer recommends periodic checks for metabolic syndrome—which means (among other things) checking the patient’s blood pressure, weight, and BMI via measurements of his waist circumference. Is it appropriate to touch such patients for clinical purposes? If not, could I be blamed if a patient has an MI secondary to high blood cholesterol levels if I haven’t been monitoring these parameters?