Medics have been advised to change their language to stop ‘belittling or blaming’ patients.

Doctors may be leaving people frustrated by treating them like children, a new opinion piece in the British Medical Journal warns.

Phrases such as ‘poorly controlled’ illness or ‘treatment failure’ should be scrapped, according to Caitriona Cox and Zoe Fritz, two doctors from the University of Cambridge.

Other language like ‘sending’ a patient home or ‘taking’ their medical history can leave people feeling ‘passive or childlike’, they say.

Sufferers of diabetes regularly encounter ‘authoritarianism’ in language – for example, in talks about them not being ‘allowed’ certain foods.

‘Although patients can find such language upsetting or frustrating, some also adopt a childlike narrative, describing the effect of being “naughty” or “good” on their blood sugars, or recounting being “scolded” by healthcare professionals’, the article reads.

It goes on to claim the relationship between healthcare staff and patients can be improved with simple rephrasing.

For example, ‘denies chest pain’ could be changed to ‘reports no chest pain’, or ‘patient failed on x’ could be ‘x was not effective for the patient’.

Meanwhile, a patient ‘refusing’ advice or a treatment could instead be described as ‘declining’.

Dr Cox and Dr Fritz warn many phrases are ‘deeply ingrained’ in medical practice – but have urged doctors to use language that ‘facilitates trust and supports shared decision-making’.

They argued: ‘Language that belittles, infantilises, or blames patients runs counter to the collaborative relationships we are trying to foster through initiatives such as shared decision making.’

Dame Laura Lee, chief executive at cancer support charity Maggie’s, has pointed out there are specific words people with illnesses like cancer ‘hate’.

‘We have been hearing for years that people with cancer are fed up of the “battle” language used around them – phrases like “she fought cancer” or “stay strong” can make people feel despondent’, she said.

‘We also know how important language can be to someone’s experience of health services and can make a huge difference to the way they approach and respond to their treatment and diagnosis.

‘People that come into our centres are often confused and worried, and they need our support to better understand medical jargon and their treatment options to make an informed decision about their own and their friend or family’s care.’

It comes after medics were also told to ditch confusing and elaborate medical jargon in 2018.

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges said making language more easy for people to understand and addressing them in first person strengthens the doctor-patient relationship.

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