Is this relationship many to one or many to many

Question

I'm making an E/R diagram for doctors and patients. At one point the database description says that each patient has a primary physician so does that imply a many to one relationship between the patients and doctors since each patient has a primary physician or should I stick with a many to many relationship since a single patient could have many doctors.

Answer 1

So you have sort of answered your own question. There are actually two relationships: a many to many relationship between patients and doctors they encounter in general. a many to one relationship between patients and specifically their one primary physician.