Misusing an Ugly Word.

There was a news report today about the crisis in the NHS which referred to people with ‘heart disease.’ I found it disturbing because I feel an abiding antipathy towards the word ‘disease.’

To my mind, disease is something visible, ugly, creeping, festering, possibly malodorous, and often contagious. Leprosy is a disease. Tuberculosis is a disease, especially when it becomes visible through blood in the sputum. When it comes to something which is merely malfunctioning, I prefer the word ‘condition.’

I have a heart condition and I readily admit it to anybody I think might be interested, but I would never say I have heart disease. It would make me feel dirty, disreputable, and undesirable. I would expect people to wrinkle their nose and take a step backwards. I would expect to be shunned and hidden away as my grandfather was when he caught TB. My grandmother locked him in the bedroom so he couldn’t infect the house and put the children at risk.

And that’s why I’m disturbed by the clinical convention of using the word in a generic sense. And why, if any cardiologist uses it in reference to my condition, I will arrest his speech and ask him to mind his language.