Please Provide the Following Information: Enthymemes and the Logics of Individual Responsibility in the Patient Medical History Form

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite the overwhelming evidence that health and risk are multifactorial, medical texts that interface with publics continue to circulate logics of individual responsibility of health. This article analyzes patient medical history forms across different times and spaces to track the logics of individual responsibility that operate in the form in various contexts. The analysis finds logics of individual responsibility are enthymized through genetic causation and personal choice and makes the case that texts, including mundane forms, perform patient education and construct patients’ identifications with health, illness, and risk.