Words Matter: How ‘EOL’ Rhetoric Undermines Good Palliative Care
January 21, 2011
Key words can be powerful in shaping cultural norms, including the norms of sub-cultures that flourish in hospitals and training programs. At the beginning of a large-scale social change, such as the new public prominence of debates over Medicare policy and palliative care, a telling phrase that emerges early can influence how the change becomes manifest, for better and ill, and often in ways their originators did not intend. Individuals and groups, their imaginations imprinted with a poignant rhetorical turn – e.g., “EOL†and “ethics at EOL†– may go down one set of pathways, not considering others. (Bioethics Forum)
