Language of Medical Care

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Abstract
Wittgenstein's idea that "analysis is the battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by language" has particular relevance in debates about medical care. Metaphors and oratorical devices used at first for effect have slipped into common parlance, and distortions embedded in this new jargon now muddy our thinking.Consider the relatively innocuous phrase "health care" used as a condensation of the longer "medical care and health services." Patients are "cared for," sickness is "cared for." Is health "cared for," or is it better "maintained"? Care can mean either nurture and repair or maintenance, but, in the medical context, it usually . . .

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