The concept of the patient-expert as the basis for the operation of the Sorbonne Patients’ University

Abstract

The subject of this paper is the concept of the expert patient as it is put into practice at The Patients’ University, an educational institution that exists from the academic year 2009/2010 at the University Paris-Sorbonne. The concept of the expert patient emerged in the 70’s and has been gaining ground in the bioethical discussions ever since. Nevertheless, the concept of the expert patient is an open project which is still in the process of definition. The Patients’ University, a project proposed the philosopher and educationalist Catherine Tourette-Turgis, is of particular interest due to its multidimensional use of the concept of the expert patient. First of all, there is the practical side imposed by the changing reality of the medical practice which witnesses a constant growth of patients suffering from chronic diseases, but there is a strongly developed theoretical reflection and political implications of the phenomenon as well. The French University of Patients is therefore a project through which a wide range of possibilities inscribed in the concept of the expert patient can be apprehended.