Michel Foucault's landmark book The Birth of the Clinic did not include consideration of infants. This book cleverly takes this idea and shows how humans are not only born, they are transformed into patients at the moment of birth through the discourses and apparatuses of healthcare systems. This book is highly recommended for all those interested in the social, cultural and political construction of patienthood in neonatal care.

Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, UNSW Sydney

This fascinating study demonstrates how the achievements and challenges characterizing Russian neonatal care reflect significant social dynamics, from the impacts of state pronatalism and neoliberal economics, to medical professionals’ longing for occupational autonomy. Well-grounded in science studies, The Birth of the Patient breaks new ground by revealing the multiple kinds of entities produced when the medical system delivers a newborn. This book will be widely appreciated by sociologists and anthropologists of medicine as well as scholars of Russia.

Michele Rivkin-Fish, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; author of Unmaking Russia's Abortion Culture: Family Planning and the Struggle for a Liberal Biopolitics