The Power of Words
The words physicians choose may have more impact than they often realize. In medicine, words are not only used to convey diagnosis, explain treatment, and give objective information, but they are also used to break bad (or sometimes good!) news, give comfort and/or convey life-changing circumstances. I have previously written on this blog about words that have been said to me by my and my son’s health care providers and how they are still impacting me 10 years later.
A recent PhysiciansPractice.com article touched on the importance of words, too, recently. The article, entitled, “The Top 10 Things Doctors Should Never Say to Patients,” provides really nice examples of phrases that may be easy to say and/or make sense to the provider, but that can often trigger patients into thinking their physician doesn’t care or isn’t interested in a give-take relationship. And, as we like to discuss often on this site, bad communication and a poor choice of words can often poison a doctor-patient relationship and make the physician ripe for a medical malpractice lawsuit.
Scroll through the article to view the 10 things you should never say and find out the reasons why. You might be surprised by what’s on the list.
