Roughly 75% of all medical malpractice lawsuits in the United States are not about something a medical professional did, or failed to do; they are are about something a medical professional said, or failed to say. The real crisis in our health care system in this country is not a crisis of money or technology but a crisis of language. We know, from an abundance of research, that language has the same power to harm or to heal as the sharpest scalpel or the most powerful medication. We know from an abundance of experience that the communication between the caregivers and the bureaucracies -- the bureaucracies of managed care and government agencies and the like -- is potentially as dangerous as any cholera epidemic or natural disaster.

Nevertheless, todays medical professionals are not required to take even one course in linguistics. As a result, they know no more about the scientific facts of language and language behavior than does a typical grocer or tennis pro or piano tuner or auto mechanic.

One of the most serious consequences of this ignorance is in todays emergency medicine (and other crisis fields). Where absolutely topnotch communications skills are critical because accurate information must be obtained and passed along at top speed, with almost no opportunity for repair of errors and misunderstandings. Where the language used by most of the people involved is not ordinary language but disordered and dysfunctional language, changed -- often distorted -- by the severe tension and stress of the medical language environment.

EM professionals are still relying on nothing more than the commonsense observation that when people are upset they talk differently than they do when theyre relaxed. We now know a great deal more than that about what happens during communication under stress and in crisis, but very little of that knowledge has been shared with medical professionals.

This book is a first step toward making available to EM and crisis professionals the basic information about recognizing disordered language quickly, judging it as any other objective sign would be judged, and responding to it in a way that produces optimum medical care with the minimum expenditure of time and money and energy. It presents a system  -- written by a linguist, based on contemporary linguistic science and two decades of experience teaching medical seminars. It is brief, practical, and clear, easy to learn and easy to put into practice.

Roughly 75% of all medical malpractice lawsuits in the United States are not about something a medical professional did, or failed to do; they are are about something a medical professional said, or failed to say. The real crisis in our health care system in this country is not a crisis of money or technology but a crisis of language. We know, from an abundance of research, that language has the same power to harm or to heal as the sharpest scalpel or the most powerful medication. We know from an abundance of experience that the communication between the caregivers and the bureaucracies -- the bureaucracies of managed care and government agencies and the like -- is potentially as dangerous as any cholera epidemic or natural disaster.

Nevertheless, todays medical professionals are not required to take even one course in linguistics. As a result, they know no more about the scientific facts of language and language behavior than does a typical grocer or tennis pro or piano tuner or auto mechanic.

One of the most serious consequences of this ignorance is in todays emergency medicine (and other crisis fields). Where absolutely topnotch communications skills are critical because accurate information must be obtained and passed along at top speed, with almost no opportunity for repair of errors and misunderstandings. Where the language used by most of the people involved is not ordinary language but disordered and dysfunctional language, changed -- often distorted -- by the severe tension and stress of the medical language environment.

EM professionals are still relying on nothing more than the commonsense observation that when people are upset they talk differently than they do when theyre relaxed. We now know a great deal more than that about what happens during communication under stress and in crisis, but very little of that knowledge has been shared with medical professionals.

This book is a first step toward making available to EM and crisis professionals the basic information about recognizing disordered language quickly, judging it as any other objective sign would be judged, and responding to it in a way that produces optimum medical care with the minimum expenditure of time and money and energy. It presents a system  -- written by a linguist, based on contemporary linguistic science and two decades of experience teaching medical seminars. It is brief, practical, and clear, easy to learn and easy to put into practice.