rss
Med Humanities 2001;27:64-69 doi:10.1136/mh.27.2.64

‘A fragment of the explanation’: the use and abuse of words

  1. Iona Heath
  1. General Practitioner, London

      Abstract

      This paper explores the normative basis of power in language, story, labels and evidence, and attempts to show how these dimensions of power are used systematically to simplify the reality of exprience, deny ignorance and exclude uncertainty. Through the resulting abuse of words, doctors may often constrain and limit their patients' stories, consigning many of them to stories of failure, and reducing their capacity to celebrate, or even recognise, achievement.

      Footnotes

      • Iona Heath is a General Practitioner in London.

      This Article

      1. Abstract
      2. Full text
      3. PDF

      Responses

      1. Submit a response
      2. No responses published

      Register for free content

      The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.

      Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.