VIP’s princely care brings scrutiny to Brigham and Women's Hospital

Commonly addressed as a prince, a patient seemed to arrive in 2014 with some definite ideas about how he wanted to be treated, and Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital staff tried hard to please him even when that ran afoul of hospital policies. It’s a phenomenon common enough that it has a name — VIP syndrome — and hospitals across the country, even as they relish the extra revenue from treating such patients, have had to work hard to avoid its side effects. In the case of the Brigham and the prince, there were many.