Words have the power to create and to destroy

Words matter. Morgan’s nemesis “the ceiling of care” proves it.1 Care shouldn’t have a limit and we shouldn’t aim for the ceiling. The direction our words point matters as much as their meaning. I would like to take this idea further.Diagnosis is a destructive act. “Stroke” creates one syllable with six letters. In those six letters, a story is compressed and destroyed. A story of suffering, disability, hope, recovery, and, perhaps, gratitude. “Stroke” compresses a person’s lifetime into a word. A word that is given equal valence as “scan,” “discharge,” and “prescription.”But diagnosis does more than destroy. It points us towards the patient and away from the person. Through the lens of diagnosis, we see a patient and predict their future. Like a branching tree, our medical minds look ahead. Along one branch we see Mrs Jones’s slow and plateaued recovery. Along another we see rehabilitation and getting home. Another…
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