Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Critical medical points

As my readers know, I go to great lengths to avoid other neurologists. I do this because this branch of medicine is just chock full of personality disorders.

Don't believe me? Allow me to introduce exhibit A, which was published in the January/February 2011 issue of Practical Neurology.

click to enlarge



Because, let's face it: It takes a really special kind of whackjob to write a letter complaining about using both the words "preventive" AND "preventative" in the same article. They even get bonus points for being able to cite an article from freakin' 1964 on such an important point.

p.s. You guys spelled "inconsistency" wrong.
at

39 comments:

  1. JulieJune 28, 2011 at 8:29 AM

    wow who knew yak herders were so educated!

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  2. AnonymousJune 28, 2011 at 8:52 AM

    Too much time on their hands. Not enough patients.

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  3. The Kedrowitsch'sJune 28, 2011 at 8:52 AM

    That is talent!

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  4. PackerJune 28, 2011 at 9:30 AM

    Note to self: Look up preventive and preventitive, also check for preventative.


    Worries, what worries you makes me yawn.

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  5. HavenJune 28, 2011 at 9:56 AM

    E.Gads. That's actually pretty hysterical.

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  6. AnonymousJune 28, 2011 at 10:10 AM

    wrongly.

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  7. AnonymousJune 28, 2011 at 10:34 AM

    The first time I read that, I couldn't see any difference between "preventive" and "preventative" and assumed that the editors made a mistake in their clarification note. That would have been really something special.

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  8. AnonymousJune 28, 2011 at 11:49 AM

    Actually, that's something that drives me CRAZY. I could see myself weiting something like that, if I was close to retirement and had some time on my hands...and hey, what about "12 items or less"? It SHOULD be "12 items or fewer". WHAT ABOUT THAT?

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  9. ERPJune 28, 2011 at 12:20 PM

    Oriented or Orientated? Important questions these.

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  10. TeriJune 28, 2011 at 12:24 PM

    I work in the Department of Preventive Medicine and I can't tell you the number of times that we receive things addressed to "Department of Preventative Medicine" - even from our school's dean's office.

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  11. AnonymousJune 28, 2011 at 12:39 PM

    No matter how they spell it, my mother still says prevennative.

    Hey, after failing to win my school spelling bee the third time, I thought I was in the esperanto camp, but now I see it has a bunch of consistent grammatical rules. What kind of language is that?

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  12. AnonymousJune 28, 2011 at 12:56 PM

    I'm glad the editors clarificated the incosistency.

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  13. M3June 28, 2011 at 1:08 PM

    This is a wonderful example of Muphry's law.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muphry%27s_law

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  14. webhillJune 28, 2011 at 1:34 PM

    There should not be a capital "P" in "preventive" after the semicolon.

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  15. Sarah GlennJune 28, 2011 at 1:36 PM

    Try writing a mission statement sometime. :-P

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  16. AnonymousJune 28, 2011 at 1:46 PM

    Do you suspect that the person who pointed that out isn't even a doctor, but just someone who likes to read medical journals for fun?

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  17. AnonymousJune 28, 2011 at 1:47 PM

    What will the neighbors think?

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  18. AnonymousJune 28, 2011 at 2:04 PM

    The only thing that comes to mind is........ "Too Much Time On My Hands," by Styx.

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  19. 4RRanchJune 28, 2011 at 3:15 PM

    OK, so who's the one reading the clarification in the first place?

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  20. MattJune 28, 2011 at 4:16 PM

    So, not being a neurologist... botox? For headaches?

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  21. SuzanneJune 28, 2011 at 4:24 PM

    I think I know what you mean. I chose medical transcription as a second career after my last child starts school this September and I have to say that I've never seen such a heated debate as that concerning spacing after a colon (one or two). And my first degree was in philosophy -- you know, where people kind of argue now and then :)

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  22. Melissa ~ Mom to 6June 28, 2011 at 4:25 PM

    I feel oh so left out. Where can I, a lowly commoner, get a medical journal to read? These esteemed gatherers of info should share with the little people like me because at 3am when I'm feeding my tiny babe, I need something to lull us both back to sleep!

    wv: burefo ~ a burrito w/ an afro

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  23. jimbo26June 28, 2011 at 4:29 PM

    Surely " preventative " means you take it before the headache starts ?

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  24. Grumpy, M.D.June 28, 2011 at 4:29 PM

    Matt- Botox is effective as a treatment for chronic migraine, and is approved for such by the US FDA.

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  25. oceankissesJune 28, 2011 at 4:40 PM

    The person that wrote that may have had a migraine at the time. I know I get pretty "anal" when I have one. Never mind that I can't remember which way to turn when driving from my house to the grocery store 2 blocks away, but I sure can find those writing errors.

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  26. McDuckVetJune 28, 2011 at 7:40 PM

    Euthanize vs euthanatize.

    Discuss

    (Many, many of my fellow vets are grammar nazis.)

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  27. AnonymousJune 28, 2011 at 7:57 PM

    I'm an engineer and our union negotiating committee debated furiously if we should ask for a 2% raise or a 2.0% raise.

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  28. AnonymousJune 28, 2011 at 7:59 PM

    Oceankisses, you can READ when you have migraines? What with the photophobia, haloes and swimmy vision effects, I can't bear to have my eyes open when I have a migraine.

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  29. AnonymousJune 28, 2011 at 8:07 PM

    I wonder if the same anal-retentive reader will write to them about "incosistency"?

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  30. AnonymousJune 28, 2011 at 8:09 PM

    The Clarification was the joke section of Pratical Neurology.

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  31. annie.dvmJune 28, 2011 at 8:54 PM

    As a vet student in clinics, I had to sit through radiology rounds where two clinicians argued for 30 minutes about whether it should be called "gastric dilation" or "gastric dilatation." I tried not to think about how much per hour my education cost...

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  32. webhillJune 28, 2011 at 9:50 PM

    Yo, McDuck - get a load of this:
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1480662/pdf/canvetj00079-0010b.pdf

    :)

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  33. AnonymousJune 28, 2011 at 10:10 PM

    So, annie.dvm, you haven't yet had to sit through the euthanased/euthanized/euthanatized debate? Lucky you. You have that to look forward to!
    Then there are the ones who, knowing no Latin, think the singular of "sequelae" is "sequele" and the singular of "septae" is "septa". *Shudder*.

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  34. AnonymousJune 28, 2011 at 10:25 PM

    Annie: I think your vet prof knows my path prof. He insisted on "dilatation;" "dilation" would be marked incorrect. Something about Latin prefixes/suffixes?

    Dr. G: didn't you hear? In NEJM 1820;8(1):126, the authors clearly state that "incosistent" is preferred. You can check it out in the free archive!

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  35. AnonymousJune 28, 2011 at 11:04 PM

    melissa~mom to 6..... two of the most famous medical journals in the world are online at nejm.com and jama.com.......if these articles dont put you to sleep, nothing will

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  36. BritJune 29, 2011 at 3:20 AM

    I think they wrote incosistency on purpose, just to spite the person who wrote to them in the first place.

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  37. CTJune 29, 2011 at 7:43 AM

    @Melissa: The British medical journal has a lot of open access articles.


    There's also something like that in Dutch - voorkómen (to prevent) and 'vóórkomen' (incidence). These words are usually written as 'voorkomen' but only in medicine they decide to use these accents - at first, I never understood why, and now I'm so indoctrinated that I'm actually confused when there are no accents.

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  38. Ben SJune 29, 2011 at 4:30 PM

    But will they issue a correction for their correction?

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  39. RehabRNJune 29, 2011 at 6:51 PM

    Thank you Grumpy!

    I had to reeducate one of our neuros as to what an immunosuppresive drug is and why I called it an immunosuppressant.

    Darn it, that's what the pharmacy classification is, and you can't change it. He/she wanted to say that wasn't what it did.

    Head planted firmly into desk...over and over.

    Thank goodness they don't let him/her near transplant patients!

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So wadda you think?