Patient or Consumer?

A History of Drug Advertising: The Evolving Roles of Consumers and Consumer Protection

“A patient is a recipient of a health care service (Mariner 1998). Some people use the term consumer to refer to the buying role (e.g., educating consumers about their health plan choices). Other people use the term as a substitute for patient because the latter term implies subservience to health care professionals, although no economic role is attached to the consumer in this usage.”