Comment: Jonathan Wolff: This epidemic of medical jargon isn't good for us - The Guardian 1st April 2008

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Did you know that genetic and acquired neuromuscular diseases represent a major cause of mortality and morbidity in children and adults? I've been hanging around with medical types for a while now, and finally plucked up enough courage to ask one what "morbidity" means. "Illness," she said. I suppose I knew that all along, but I had thought that there must more to it than that. Another time, I asked a professor of medicine for the technical definition of "toxic", after he had used the word in a somewhat superior fashion. After a few minutes of convoluted explanation it all became clear: "really not very good for you at all". In other words, it doesn't have a technical definition, even though it seems to be begging for one.

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