Lawsuits Cut Down On Doctors' Special Abbreviations
There was a time when doctors spoke a language all their own. They would scribble abbreviations to tell colleagues the unspeakable truth about patients. UBI meant unexplained beer injury. One doctor in London has more than 200 colorful examples. But he tells the BBC that lawsuits make it a dying art.
ARI SHAPIRO, host:
Good morning. I'm Ari Shapiro.
There was a time when doctors spoke a language all their own. They would scribble abbreviations to tell colleagues the unspeakable truth about patients. FLK meant funny-looking kid. UBI - unexplained beer injury. One doctor in London has more than 200 colorful examples. But he tells the BBC lawsuits make it a dying art. Doctors would rather not explain to a judge that TTFO means roughly translated - told to go away.
It's MORNING EDITION.
Copyright © 2011 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.