I recently spent some time in the foreign country of Medicaland, otherwise known as the hospital. My elderly, ill mother had a health crisis that ultimately led to her death and myself and my family members spent a little over a week in Medicaland trying to understand the language. The actual words the natives of Medicaland used were English language words, and I understood the construction of the sentences they were speaking, but I really struggled with the context.
Let me give you an example. My mother had a terminal illness. She was in the ICU. The doctor called me in to discuss where we were going with her care because she had no chance of survival. As I walked in the door of the ICU my mother's nurse said to me, "She's doing much better today." What???? I thought we were about to discuss putting my mom in palliative care and the nurse is telling me she's doing better. When a nurse tells you someone is doing better, it makes you question if you should be letting them die. It really messes up your thought process and adds stress to an already horrible, impossible situation.
Time and reflection has allowed me to understand what the nurse really meant when she said "She's doing much better today." What she really was saying was "Your mom is a sweet lady, I'm sorry she's dying, and I'm trying to make you and me feel better right at this moment by saying she's doing better." My mom wasn't doing better, but when a nurse tells you that she thinks your mom is doing better, if you don't speak their language, you don't understand that. You take the nurse at her word that your mom is doing better.
That's just one example among many that occurred over the eight days I spent in Medicaland. But I eventually got proficient at Medicalanguage. Towards the end I was able to communicate very effectively with the natives. I asked the right questions at the right times. I listened to my inner voice that would be saying, "I don't get that." I asked follow-up questions where I would rephrase what they were saying into common English. I got through it and learned a lot.
But my experience got me thinking about the language that I speak where I live (at least for eight hours a day, Monday through Friday). I live in Legalopia and speak Legalingo. This is the language of judges, lawyers, clerks and other court personnel. To us phrases like, "file a petition", "we don't grant adjournments to petitioners on the day of the first appearance, and "Has there been an adjudication of paternity?" are all phrases that roll off our tongues as easily as "Sure, I'll have another".
We have to remember that most of the people that need the services of the courts don't live in our world. They hear the words, they know that they're English words, but because they don't live in Legalopia they don't always understand the context. For those of you reading this that also don't live in Legalopia, a translation of "file a petition" is fill out a form to tell the court why you want what you want and why you should get it. "We don't grant adjournments to petitioners on the day of the first appearnce" means you should have called us earlier, besides you started this whole thing and if you don't show up, the judge is going to throw it out. Finally, "Has there been an adjudication of paternity?" means has anyone been named as the father. Isn't that simpler?
So my suggestion to those that speak Legalingo is to remember that we're the natives, the general public is visiting our land, and we need to be good hosts and speak as plainly as we can to them. Save the Legalingo for each other, and speak common English to our guests. If we did that, I believe there would be less confusion and stress for everyone.
My full sympathy to you on the loss of your mother.
ReplyDeleteBut you wrote a great article on jargon.
But I also learned in several episodes that I helped usher dying relatives to a peaceful exit that hospital folk also must key their jargon to your demeanor and ability to handle the information without hitting the panic button.
With a dying Grandfather forty years ago I also learned a neat tand effective method for tracking progress and getting first hand knowledge. In each of six cases I was directly involved with an older relative in their final days.
I learned to be at the hospital very early before 7:00 AM. I would assure security and information gate keepers that I was there to help feed whomever was the patient.
I did help ensure the patient was fed each time but more importantly I was invariably present when Doctors made their early rounds. They might also stop by later in the day but nearly daily they check the reports and the patients before going to their offices.
Nurse superintendents also make their rounds the first thing in the morning.
Not just that but if the patient is going to have a lucid time that day it will be early in the morning.
So anytime you really wan tto get the nitty gritty get up at 5:00 AM and learn to bypass the Jargon of Euphemism