SQL query - Join that returns the first two records of joining table

Question

I have two tables:

Patient

• pkPatientId
• FirstName
• Surname

PatientStatus

• pk

Answer 1

Ugly, but this one does not rely on uniqueness of StartDate and works on SQL 2000

select * 
from Patient p 
join PatientStatus ps on p.pkPatientId=ps.fkPatientId
where pkPatientStatusId in (
 select top 2 pkPatientStatusId 
 from PatientStatus 
 where fkPatientId=ps.fkPatientId 
 order by StartDate
) and pkPatientId in (
 select fkPatientId
 from PatientStatus
 group by fkPatientId
 having count(*)>=2
)