SASC: Choose Your Words Carefully

[Midwest Alice]

We don't have a family member on our board who has failed a treatment yet! Bravo!



SABC: Choose Your Words Carefully

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San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (http://www.sabcs.org/)
http://egmnblog.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/doctor-patient-nci.jpg?w=500&h=333 Image courtesy of NCI, Bill Branson - photographer

Here’s a little lesson in semantics for physicians, courtesy of a breast cancer patient advocate. During the Q and A session following one of the presentations in the main hall, a patient advocate went up to the mike and pointed out to the speaker and all of her colleagues in the room that the patients had not, in fact, failed the treatment. Rather, the treatment had failed the patients.
Just semantics? That depends on which side of the physician-cancer patient equation you’re on.
—Kerri Wachter

[Rich66]

Especially when the treatment delivery may be a contributing factor (glucocorticoid premeds, random timing, high dose requiring breaks)

[chrisy]

Alice,

I agree, and personally I do a pretty good job of remembering, and saying, that the TREATMENT failed, not the patient. When a treatment fails, it's really traumatic and not helpful to have it put in the wrong context.

That said, I think many doctors are trying really hard to change this but they do slip up. Heck, even I occasionally slip up! Last year at San Antonio, the doctor presenting the TDM1 results slipped and said it wrong and was taken to task by an advocate during the Q&A.

I had a conversation with that doctor later in the day (we met by chance) and I told her I was in that study and doing well, and thanked her for her dedication and work. She was still beating herself up about having misspoken in the meeting! I agreed, the language we use is powerful but for me the most important thing was to keep making progress on the REAL goal of defeating cancer!

That will make semantics of "treatment failure" irrelevant:)

[Midwest Alice]

Hey Chris,

I agree,no one needs to beat themselves up for misspeakng. And I really like your semantics on the irrelevant part.

And so glad the T-MD1 is so successful for you :)