The Infection Doctor and the Isolation Sign

Obviously, this touched me enough to wright about it. I am not sure this will make me feel better, but I hope it makes a difference. I was seeing a patient whom I was familiar with from a previous admission. He greeted me with a smile on his face and warmth in his voice. I felt encouraged and proceeded with the usual workflow. During the encounter, I noted that his family member was not wearing a gown or gloves. The patient was on contact isolation with an isolation sign placed at the door. I was waiting for the right moment to ask the family member to wear a gown thinking he might stop providing information if he was given instructions. I waited until I collected the story about the patient's presentation then I nicely asked the family member if he would wear a gown. I notified him that there is a sign at the door that he may had missed. At that time, two other family members entered the room without gowns or gloves. He snapped at me indicating that there is no way he was going to wear a gown or letting his family members wear gowns. The more I explained about our policy the more he declined and became persistent. He said "my dad's main doctor and two other doctors were here today without gowns, one of them even hugged him…none of them told me to wear a gown". I replied "I am a doctor too " but that did not change his mind. He went on "I have been coming here to visit, I have never been asked to wear a gown, how come you are telling me to wear a gown?".