The Future of Doctoring is Patient Advocacy

• In Event: 20251 - Is there a Doctor in the House? Updating the Medical Sociology Agenda around Doctoring

Abstract

Physicians are increasingly put in the position of advocating on behalf of their patients to achieve health goals. Most critically and time-consuming, physicians advocate for their patients to obtain insurance authorization for admission, testing, and treatment. But clinicians also have to convince skeptical, engaged patients of the need for treatment. They need to advocate for patients with their colleagues, administrators, and case-managers. While this is not necessarily a new development, it has become much more pronounced aspect of clinical work and reflects a challenged professional authority. Drawing from an ongoing study of heart transplantation, I situate the need for patient advocacy at both a structural level of the health care system and at a professional level of collegiality. I argue that, similar to Rachel Best’s analysis of how patient social movements influenced NIH research funding, physician’s patient advocacy adds an element of chance to health care encounters, leading to the institutionalization of health inequities.

Author

• Stefan Timmermans, University of California-Los Angeles