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Several interlinking changes in health and society followed the Second World War, and have altered medical and political stakeholders’ perceptions of users of the health care system. Different terms used to qualify the patient of today have appeared in the language of public policies, activist movements, and the medical community, including “informed,” “responsible for one’s own care,” “autonomous,” “empowered,” “expert,” “partner,” “resource,” “researcher,” “teacher,” “peer provider,” and “e-patient.” These qualifying phrases signal the changes in medical perceptions, the valorization of autonomy in the field of health, and the implementation of participatory governance.