ABSTRACT
Over the past decade, significant interdisciplinary attention has been paid to the conduct of health care in the United States, and in particular to the status of medical knowledge. In many academic fields-but mainly in anthropology, sociology, and communication-the prevailing image of medical knowledge as “unassailable ‘God’s Truth’ has shifted to something socially produced and symbolically mediated bringing forth questions of power and authority in the negotiation and control of that knowledge” (Kuipers, 1989, p. 100). An emerging critical consciousness regarding medical expertise has coincided with myriad practical frustrations with the delivery of care. Widespread medical error, difficulties in navigating managed care and hospital bureaucracies, increased patient access to health information on the web, and the availability of various forms of alternative medicine all contribute to a growing skepticism among health-care consumers (Andrews et al., 1997; Leape, 1994; Leape et al., 1993).
