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A previous post told the story of one ASD person's experience in the emergency room. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports:

"Educational initiatives that make general physicians aware of the complexities of diagnosis and management of patients with an ASD are needed," the doctors write in Post Graduate Medical Journal. "The rising prevalence of patients with an ASD makes it imperative that the general healthcare community becomes aware of the multidimensional nature of the ASD spectrum of illness." The article, based on a survey of existing literature on how general physicians may handle patients with autism, provides common-sense tips on their care. Most important, said lead author Arvind Venkat of Allegheny General, is "to listen to the caregiver and listen to the patient to the extent possible. They're very unique in how they interact. To take a knee-jerk approach and say this is how [doctors] react to a patient ... this is not the way to go. You really need to take time to talk to the caregiver to speak with [him about] how can we treat the patient in a way that's productive and not cause the conflict and stresses that we talked about."