Study suggests words your doctor should avoid

Study suggests words your doctor should avoid


We navigate our lives with words and learn the proper language etiquette for many situations. It can, admittedly, be a minefield. After all, words have a habit of flying off tongues before our brains calculate their impact.

As the old joke goes, it’s ill-advised to walk into a bar and ask directions to a boxing venue with the words, “I’m looking for a fight.”

Poor word choice, however, is no joke to seriously ill patients and family members who hang on a physician’s every utterance.

Texas A&M University researchers in a recent paper provide a list of what they called “never-words” for doctors. These are statements that might scare patients or make them feel powerless.

Among the never-words or phrases: There is nothing we can do. Circling the drain. I don’t know why you waited so long to come in. He (or she) will not get better.

The paper also includes some phrases not to offer to cancer patients, such as “Let’s not worry about that now” or “You are lucky it’s only Stage 2.”

Researchers also argue the words “battle” and “fight” should be banished

as they imply an illness can be defeated by sheer will. It also might make patients feel that they are not battling hard enough.

Why some of these examples are poor form is obvious. Others are more nuanced. For example, a declarative statement of fact might be replaced with an expression of concern. “He won’t get better,” investigators said, isn’t great, but adding two words lessens the blow and strengthens the human connection: “I’m worried he won’t get better.”

No one suggests doctors are ever being deliberately rude. Far from it. But we can all benefit by recognizing the importance of language.

Related Episodes