Amber Alert issued for fetus

"Pip" wrote in message
...
I totally agree that it is a medical term that I don't think is appropriate
most of the time. The actual sound of the word makes me cringe.

It's like how doctors used to and some still do, use the term abortion
rather than m/c. The former being quite correct for the medical field but
not pleasant for the women involved. I have lost 4 babies and would rip
anyone a new a hole if they said I had lost my 4 foetuses to abortion.
Wording is very important when you are dealing with peoples feelings.


I think that the "abortion" word thing is a bit more loaded, due to the
political environment where many people believe elective abortion is evil.
Fetus is not a bad thing to most people!

"ModernMiko" wrote in message
news:Ko5xd.243$h.160@trnddc04...
"Hillary Israeli" wrote in message
...
In ,
Pip wrote:

*
*It's like how doctors used to and some still do, use the term abortion
*rather than m/c. The former being quite correct for the medical field
but
*not pleasant for the women involved. I have lost 4 babies and would rip
*anyone a new a hole if they said I had lost my 4 foetuses to abortion.
*Wording is very important when you are dealing with peoples feelings.

But no real medical professional would say you lost those pregnancies to
"abortion" without a qualifier. It would be either "spontaneous
abortion,"
which is the same as miscarriage, or it would be "elective abortion,"
which is what is colloquially referred to as "an abortion." Given that
spontaneous abortion and miscarriage are different words with the same
definition, why does it matter which is used? I truly don't understand.

-Hillary, gravida 4, para 2, 2-0-SA1-2 (that's 4 pregnancies, 2
deliveries, 2 fullterm infants, no premies, one spontaneous abortion,
two live kids)


--
Hillary Israeli, VMD

Well then why not call it a miscarriage? A m/c when you've had multiple
ones and really want a baby being called an abortion even if it;s a
spontaneous abortion hurts at least in my experience...


Perhaps its popular vernacular that needs to change, instead of medical
terminology?

Fetus is not a bad thing to most people!



Odly enough that phrase bugs my dh.. he said something about dehuminising it
or something to that effect.. I was joking one day that the baby was
officialy a fetus and he was upset with me.. oh well cant please um all

Tori

--
Bonnie 3/20/02
Xavier 10/27/04

"Mum of Two" wrote in message
...

Doctors should speak to other doctors in words that are medically correct
that doctors understand. Doctors should speak to patients in terms that
the patient not only understands, but are sensitive to his/her emotional
needs. Anything else is incompetence.

I agree with you that a doctor should be sensitive to a patients emotional
and physical needs, but I believe that Doctors should EDUCATE patients about
correct medical terminology, so that we can overcome our emotionally loaded
ignorance about those medical terms.

"Jamie Clark" wrote in message
...


Once I had a blighted ovum, and the baby/fetus never developed past 5
weeks or so. No heartbeat was seen at the 7 week or 8 week u/s. I ended
up having a D&C, to clear out the "the products of conception" as the
doctor referred to it. It was pretty cold.


I think its difficult for doctors to determine which set of terminology to
use on which patient. I personally would prefer a doctor use a proper
medical term (although the "products of conception" doesn't seem to apply)
than call my 7 week lost pregnancy a baby. Obviously, some people feel
differently. Imagine how difficult it is to gage which patient wants what?

"Hillary Israeli" wrote in message
...

Still, I think it is somewhat absurd to claim that the use of the word
"fetus" to describe an unborn human (or other unborn animal) is
"derogatory." It just isn't, among any social group I am familiar with,
anyway. It may be emotionally upsetting to some people, but that's a
different story.

I think the problem here is that a 'fetus' is not a 'person' or even a
'baby'. You can kill a 'fetus'. It's a nothing. It's a never-was. It doesn't
exist until the law declares it's a person. To call a 36 weeker a 'fetus'
after it's been cut from its mother's body is absurd. My twins were taken by
cesarean at 34 weeks. They were cut from my body. No one called them
fetuses, they were Baby A and Baby B.

--angela

I'm totally with you on this -- see my other post.
--

Jamie
Earth Angels:
Taylor Marlys, 1/3/03
Addison Grace, 9/30/04

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"Child" wrote in message
...

"Jamie Clark" wrote in message
...


Once I had a blighted ovum, and the baby/fetus never developed past 5
weeks or so. No heartbeat was seen at the 7 week or 8 week u/s. I ended
up having a D&C, to clear out the "the products of conception" as the
doctor referred to it. It was pretty cold.


I think its difficult for doctors to determine which set of terminology to
use on which patient. I personally would prefer a doctor use a proper
medical term (although the "products of conception" doesn't seem to apply)
than call my 7 week lost pregnancy a baby. Obviously, some people feel
differently. Imagine how difficult it is to gage which patient wants
what?

"Jamie Clark" wrote in message
...
"Mum of Two" wrote in message
...
"A&G&K&H" wrote in message
...

I think you've hit the nail on the head there. Language makes a big
difference to many of us. ... and language can have different emotional
impacts to people from different ethnic, religious and social groups.
Remind me, but aren't you a vet? If so, then you probably are more used
to
a more clinical type of language (I'm guessing here and don't mean to
offend
if this is not the case).
To me, my babies were all real *babies* from the minute they were
conceived
... not blastocysts, embryos, fetus etc. I am a biologist (PhD botany /
ecology) and know that there are technical terms used to describe
developmental stages for the purposes of medical care and being clear
amongst professionals, but the spiritual side of me would rather refer
to a
"baby" and not a fetus, and a "miscarriage" and not a "spontaneous
abortion".

Exactly what I meant. I have a scientific mind myself, studied Latin for
several years, and am comfortable with clinical terms - I know what words
*mean*. But what words mean to me, and what they mean to the next person,
especially in emotional terms, can be very different. Hence the need for
cultural sensitivity.
I would like to assume that medical jargon is always used to patients
accidentally, and I would think this is often the case. I suspect though,
that sometimes it is used to create divides - "I'm the one with the
qualifications, I know what I'm talking about, *you* should be listening
to *me*". Doctors should speak to other doctors in words that are
medically correct that doctors understand. Doctors should speak to
patients in terms that the patient not only understands, but are
sensitive to his/her emotional needs. Anything else is incompetence.


I disagree with you here. How is a doctor supposed to know who is going
to react emotionally to what words? To me, a doctor is welcome to use
medical language, but he should also be aware of the emotional needs of
his patients and have a good bedside manner. The thing with science is
that it isn't emotional -- it's detached, it's even keeled, it's
unbiased -- supposedly, anyway.

Well, I know you can't please everyone, all the time, but....to most women
who've miscarried, being told that they've had a spontaneous abortion and
having their baby continually described as a fetus, is going to bug them.
OTOH, for the ones who wouldn't be bothered by it, having their ordeal
described as a miscarriage and the loss of a baby isn't going to bother
them. See what I mean? Problem solved. I know it isn't always going to be
that easy, especially when you're dealing with a multi-ethnic society and/or
a patient you're unfamiliar with, but I feel some things should be obvious.
I've known a few doctors who needed to take their heads out of their a$$ -
they'd been dealing with women for YEARS and they still had no clue what
would upset the majority of them. That's insensitive of them IMO.

--
Amy,
Mum to Carlos born sleeping 20/11/02,
& Ana born screaming 30/06/04
email: barton . souto @ clear . net . nz (join the dots!)
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/c/carlos2002/

"Child" wrote in message
...

"Mum of Two" wrote in message
...

Doctors should speak to other doctors in words that are medically correct
that doctors understand. Doctors should speak to patients in terms that
the patient not only understands, but are sensitive to his/her emotional
needs. Anything else is incompetence.

I agree with you that a doctor should be sensitive to a patients emotional
and physical needs, but I believe that Doctors should EDUCATE patients
about correct medical terminology, so that we can overcome our emotionally
loaded ignorance about those medical terms.

Definitely, that would have its merits. But I don't think that's
automatically going to solve the problem of the emotional response. Perhaps
after using a word which is obviously uncomfortable for the patient, the
doctor should pause and explain why that word is used and what it means, and
then if possible find another word which doesn't trigger the same response.

--
Amy,
Mum to Carlos born sleeping 20/11/02,
& Ana born screaming 30/06/04
email: barton . souto @ clear . net . nz (join the dots!)
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/c/carlos2002/

"Chotii" wrote in message
...

"Hillary Israeli" wrote in message
...

Still, I think it is somewhat absurd to claim that the use of the word
"fetus" to describe an unborn human (or other unborn animal) is
"derogatory." It just isn't, among any social group I am familiar with,
anyway. It may be emotionally upsetting to some people, but that's a
different story.

I think the problem here is that a 'fetus' is not a 'person' or even a
'baby'. You can kill a 'fetus'. It's a nothing. It's a never-was. It
doesn't exist until the law declares it's a person. To call a 36 weeker a
'fetus' after it's been cut from its mother's body is absurd. My twins
were taken by cesarean at 34 weeks. They were cut from my body. No one
called them fetuses, they were Baby A and Baby B.

Yep, that's how I feel...
God help anyone who had called my son a 'fetus' to my face.

--
Amy,
Mum to Carlos born sleeping 20/11/02,
& Ana born screaming 30/06/04
email: barton . souto @ clear . net . nz (join the dots!)
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/c/carlos2002/