The patient-provider relationship plays an important role in the delivery of safe, quality health care.  Using electronic encounter notes, this qualitative study describes physician language used to express negative and positive attitudes toward the patient. While positive attitudes were generally expressed via explicit language (e.g., direct compliments), negative attitudes were not explicit and often expressed through questioning patient credibility, disapproval of patient reasoning or self-care, stereotyping, portraying the patient as difficult, and emphasizing physician authority over the patient.