A potentially violent patient?

I recently had a patient who I feared had the potential to become violent. This middle-aged man walked into our office without an appointment and aske d to speak with a doctor. My receptionist asked if he had ever been a patie nt with us before. He said no and became somewhat agitated at being questio ned. My receptionist called me out of a room to talk with him. He wouldn't tell me what he wanted, and he seemed somewhat paranoid. My name was on his insu rance card, so we made an appointment for him at my next opening. We gave h im some demographic and medical history forms, which he filled out only par tially, omitting all background history except name and address. He didn't keep his appointment, but then he came to see my partner for an a cute-care appointment, saying that he wanted to lose weight because he was "in the National Guard and needed to meet his weight limits." He said he us ed to get his care through Veterans Affairs, but he would not give any past history or background information. He was given a laboratory slip but, on arriving at the laboratory, he refused to let them draw blood. Later that week he called to make an appointment with me. He told my recept ionist that he was extremely upset with how he was treated when he first wa lked into our office, adding that "no one has treated me like that since Vi etnam." He said that the reason for the appointment was to "talk to the doc tor" Needless to say, I was somewhat apprehensive about this visit. It seemed to me that this was a secretive, paranoid man who was angry at my office staf f and possibly at me, My partner who saw him said he was somewhat agitated and barely in control. What can a physician do to safeguard himself or herself and the office in a situation like this! The patient again failed to show up for his appointme nt, but he might make another one. If I discharge him from my practice, he might really go off the deep end.