From Words to “Making Up People”
The words we use both reflect and shape societal attitudes and inflect the interactions of physicians and patients. Words construct concepts of causality and assign responsibility for illness, often attributing blame to patients. This chapter describes how patients are considered “poor historians” who arrive with “chief complaints” and are “non-compliant” with prescribed medications. It emphasizes the need for physicians to be aware of how their words and demeanors affect their patients and how infantilizing language is detrimental to the well-being of the dependent elderly. It explores the impact of apparently innocent word choices, how medical students learn that talking with patients is considered unimportant, and how words shape our thoughts and how we see the world. The chapter examines how labeling and classifying people may lead to “making up people,” creating ways of being made possible by the new taxonomy and explores this “looping effect” in the instance of “cancer survivors.”