Doctors’ use of common medical phrases like ‘non-compliant’ and ‘failure to progress’ has come under fire for inadvertently disempowering patients. 

UK medical ethics specialists argue some language, while ingrained in clinical practice, can “insidiously” affect the doctor–patient therapeutic relationship by conferring petulance, rendering the patient passive or seemingly blaming them for poor outcomes.  

In an analysis published in The BMJ, the researchers take aim at several widely used words and phrases (see box below) for being outdated and overdue for change.

Among their list are phrases such as ‘patient denies fever and chills’ and ‘patient claims pain is 10/10’ that often appear in doctors’ medical notes.