Patient Zero

Medicine was born because people felt ill, not because doctors made them aware of their sickness.- Georges Canguilhem, French philosopher, epistemologist, and philosopher of scienceHistory celebrates physicians' triumphs over disease while overlooking patients. Yet it is patients' obstacles and suffering that pioneer new diagnoses and therapies, challenge outdated medical theories, offer fresh treatment perspectives, and correct physicians' errors or challenge their biases. Some miraculously recovered, others served as guinea pigs or martyrs, while some tragically fell victim to physicians' arrogance or greed.Written in a novelistic style, the stories of these "e;Patient Zeroes"e; stand as a tribute to them. Inverting conventional roles, ordinary individuals and the nameless replace celebrities and heroes, sketching an alternative version of medical history.