True breakthroughs are better measured over years, not overnight. There is far too much uncertainty in medicine for this word to be applied loosely in the coverage of medicine. Unrealistic expectations are among the most dangerous forces that can exist in the doctor-patient relationship. Again, I urge journalists to document who is making the promise. Dramatic discoveries seem to occur in the medical media more often than even in our television soap operas.
People hate being called a victim.
It should be reserved for those health care consumers and consumers of news who are victimized by claims of cures, purveyors of false hope, or by those who promise dramatic, miraculous breakthroughs. Let's drop these misleading and dangerous words from our dialogue about health care. Horton says that the notion of any single truth, or conclusion, in medicine is nonsense, and that the word, therefore, loses its meaning. Ill-defined, unfocused words can blur our vision as we gaze into the future of health care. This is a plea for a more disciplined selection of words by health care communicators, and for careful reading, listening and viewing by health care consumers.