STAT June 18, 2021
When Glenda Thomas of Framingham, Mass., checked her doctors’ notes online after a recent infusion, she saw something that stuck in her mind. A nurse had written, “She denies recent illness.”
To Thomas, it was disconcerting. The notes seemed to imply that she didn’t recognize her own condition, a rare neuromuscular disorder. On the contrary, she understands it well.
When she called her provider for clarification, she learned that the nurse had only meant Thomas had no recent illness that would have prevented her from getting that day’s treatment. “Denies,” it turns out, is standard medical terminology that can sound strange to a layperson’s ear. “I mentioned to the nurse that it would have been clear to me if she...