I'm Dr. Joshua Schwimmer, a nephrologist and internal medicine physician in New York City. • Kidney Notes was the first active nephrology blog. (Trivia: Kidney Notes is so old that the National Library of Medicine still uses it as an example of how to formally cite blogs.) • Professionally, you can find me at Kidney.nyc. • Kidney Notes is for educational purposes only, not medical advice. Consult qualified health care professionals. See disclaimer.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Musings on "Vasculopath"

I don't like the word "vasculopath." Partially because it's dehumanizing. But also it implies a certain degree of therapeutic nihilism: this patient is going to lose their limbs, die of a myocardial infarction or a stroke, and there isn't much we can do about it. Since so many people have severe vascular disease and since there is actually a lot that can be done, the term "vasculopath" should be retired.