On Language: Why We Should Avoid Saying " So Young "

By Amanda HinrichsThere is a brief phrase I hear uttered in the halls of the clinic or the hospital, a phrase I have said myself, and it ’s a phrase that concerns me. This phrase, “so young,” is uttered by new and experienced clinicians, often when talking about patients who are seen as being too young for the illness(es) they have. This phrase conveys objectivity and societal statistics, but is also laden with personal judgeme nt, empathy, and sadness.As I enter my career in adult palliative medicine, I have been thinking more and more about the importance of language and the way we, the medical community, convey complicated medical information to patients, families, and other medical professionals. This is especially salient as our patients are living longer, and often more medically complex lives.In early medical education, we are taught to briefly present a patient to our colleagues using age (along with gender and race/ethnicity) as the first piece of data. Within a few seconds of learning about a patient, we begin to create a mental image of them in our mind, without ever seeing the patient or hearing about their medical history. We often think very differently about patients when they are 90 years old vs 30 years old, regardless of the illness they may have. People who are younger have, on average, a better chance of recovery from illness, surgery, or injury than someone who is elderly; but I am not talking about a healthy 35-year-old teacher who develops a sever...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - Category: Palliative Care Tags: amanda hinrichs bias label language lifespan palliative young Source Type: blogs