Passive Patient Culture in India: Disrespect in Law and Medicine (Routledge Research in Health Law)

In a society shaped by deep inequalities, where healthcare and legal systems often reinforce class, caste, religion, and gender hierarchies, this book offers a powerful examination of patienthood in India.Through its critical approach, it seeks to disrupt binaries-such as universalistic and particularistic values and data versus theory-while decentering normative discourses by foregrounding lived experiences within the context.It offers philosophical and conceptual insights that extend far beyond local variations and contexts, challenging dominant narratives in global discourses on medical decision-making and concepts such as informed consent, autonomy, and respect. This book critiques the archetype of the “passive patient” entrenched in both medicine and law in India - an image that undermines agency, diminishes self-respect, and sustains a culture of disrespect.Chapters of the book unpacks the intersections of power, social categories, and patienthood, exposing how marginalized commu