Doctors Should Speak Clearly

I really dislike a lot of doctor speak. They say things like 'with your medical history we need to be sure' or 'that really needs more research before we can tell if it would be right for you'. Then they try to add explanations about things that include the words 'that's a possibility' or 'we could consider that'.

What exactly does the word 'consider' mean? I had never really thought about that until I read this blog post that was mentioned on Facebook and then I got really irritated. If a doctor says they will 'consider' a potential treatment protocol? Does that mean they want to go look something up about it or they want to prolong my agony? Why can't they just say there's a new option for you that looks pretty good.

I think doctors get trained so much (and have to keep potential malpractice suits in mind) that they hesitate to speak directly about anything. They feel the need to insert all the fine print you see in a print ad for a medication to cover all the potential side effects or 'adverse reactions' into their words. Can't they just drop the doctor speak and talk clearly to a patient.

Its just you and your doctor sitting in an exam room or their office, and they have to speak in circles so there is no chance you could ever sue them for anything. Its unfortunate that some people feel the need to sue too quickly and even more unfortunate that some doctors abuse their power and some patients suffer as a result. The rest of us patients pay the price for that in the resulting doctor speak.

I think if doctors spoke clearly to their patients and talked to us like a person instead of as a potential lawsuit? And if they didn't use the words like 'consider' or 'possibility', wouldn't we all be better off?