How chronic Lyme sheds new light on the rhetorical problem of patient empowerment
Modern medicine expects patients to be informed and empowered partners in their own care. However, when this care system fails to provide answers, many individuals with chronic and contested illnesses take matters into their own hands. These patients often seek treatment from providers who validate their self-diagnoses and prescribe unproven medical regimens. Sarah Ann Singer terms this dynamic the "patient empowerment paradox."
In The Patient Empowerment Paradox, Singer analyzes published narratives, interviews, healthcare provider websites, a patient data bank, and her own experience as a patient. She reveals how individuals become entangled in medical debates, misinformation, and decision fatigue that prevent them from healing. For Lyme researchers and scholars of other chronic and contested illnesses, this book provides a framework to better understand the rhetoric of medical uncertainty and lays the groundwork for improved patient outcomes.
Sarah Ann Singer is associate professor of English at the University of Central Florida. She has published articles in journals including Rhetoric of Health and Medicine, Composition Forum, and College English.
"This insightful analysis shows what happens when patients take their health matters into their own hands, exposing the limits of patient empowerment."—Lisa B. Keränen, University of Colorado Denver, author of Scientific Characters
