Patient ‘Expertise’ and Innovative Health Technologies

Abstract

This chapter addresses expertise and health technology via two case studies: the online pro-ana movement and transitions in the treatment of HIV. In different ways, each case study sheds light on the construction of patient/consumer expertise. Before presenting the two case studies, we first outline the notion of the ‘expert patient’ as it is depicted in recent policy frameworks and consider several critiques of the idea of patient expertise. We then consider how patient expertise is taken into forms of innovative health technology, in particular, Internet-based health care and rapid developments in the diagnosis and treatment of chronic illness. The case studies of the pro-ana movement and HIV that follow help deepen the analysis and we conclude the chapter with a summary that draws out some of the general perspectives on expertise identified in the cases.