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Medical slang


Medical slang is the use of acronyms and informal terminology to describe patients, other healthcare personnel and medical concepts. Some terms are pejorative. In English, medical slang has entered popular culture via television hospital and forensic science dramas such as Casualty, Holby City, ER, House M.D., NCIS, Scrubs, Grey's Anatomy and Green Wing.

Examples of pejorative language include bagged and tagged for a corpse, a reference to the intake process at a mortuary; ATFO for asked to fuck off; bone break need fix for orthopaedic surgery; and donorcycle for motorcycle. Less offensive (in fact, entirely inoffensive for the most part) are the terms blue pipes for veins; cabbage for a heart bypass (coronary artery bypass graft or CABG), although this term has a further, offensive meaning of a patient suffering from motor neurone disease or locked-in syndrome; and champagne tap for a flawless lumbar puncture, that is, one where erythrocyte count is zero (this is cause for champagne to be taken in celebration).

In many countries, facetious or insulting acronyms are now considered unethical and unacceptable, and patients can access their medical records. Medical facilities risk being sued by patients offended by the descriptions. Another reason for the decline is that facetious acronyms could be confused with genuine medical terms and the wrong treatment administered.


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