Great points. I can’t help but think that this detachment to health is also tied in to current societal “quick fix” mentality (e.g. fad dieting).

“The more health practitioners allow patients to detach themselves from decisions directly effecting their health the less likely people will engage with their bodies and take an active role in getting healthy”
— this begs the question, who’s responsibility is it to promote this discourse? The patient? The health care provider? The health care system?

While I completely believe it is someone’s right to consult a professional for opinions related to ones own health, I do think it is a good idea for people to rely solely on another’s opinion, no matter what that person’s background might be.

To go even further with this idea, I think this impulse to just be told what to do in relation to ones own health creates a society that becomes detached from their bodies so that patients become passive bystanders in matters of their own well being. The more health practitioners allow patients to detach themselves from decisions directly effecting their health the less likely people will engage with their bodies and take an active role in getting healthy.

So I don’t sound too declamatory, I want emphasis that I completely agree with you in the sense that there is no right or wrong way to be a patient but I think if more traditional health practitioners took a similar approach to how you (and genetic counselors) approach their positions [of power] and encourage a dialogue with their patients that people will slowly become more active participants in their own health and in the long run be healthier people.