Medical Slang, Jargon, and New Words from Double-Tongued Dictionary

Medical, medicinal, hospital-related, etc. You can also see entries assigned to this category.

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alter n. To send her back to prison might trigger her multiple personalities, or “alters,” as the psychiatrists call them. [English Medical Jargon] [full cite] (Nov. 5, 2007)

angel n. In hospital parlance, those killed in action are known as angels. In last weekend’s suicide bombing, the dead and wounded came to the hospital. “We took care of angels and wounded on that one,” said Commander Lach Noyes, a Navy surgeon. [English Medical] [full cite] (Nov. 7, 2004)

apology law n. Apology laws, as they are called, allow doctors to express sympathy and compassion after a patient is injured without fear that their words will be used against them in a civil suit. [English Law Medical] [full cite] (Mar. 5, 2007)

’gina jack n. ‘Gina jack=speculum. [English Health Medical Sex & Sexuality Slang] [full cite] (Oct. 4, 2006)

bagging n. Emergency crews started working to resuscitate her, applying a bag valve mask, a hand-held device used to provide oxygen to patients who aren’t breathing adequately. Using the device is often called bagging the patient. “She was lifeless when I picked her up,” he said. “We started bagging her, and her eyes started opening up.” [English Medical Jargon] [full cite] (Nov. 29, 2007)

Band-Aid surgery n. Minimally invasive surgery is sometimes called Band-Aid surgery because it is done through small incisions, using technologies such as miniature cameras with microscopes, tiny fiber-optic flashlights and high-definition monitors. [English Medical] [full cite] (Jul. 2, 2005)

Barbie drug n. A synthetic hormone that could solve your beauty and bedroom needs all at the same time.…“You could theoretically get tanned and have, certainly, a lot of erectile activity and you might actually start to lose weight.” Because of its promises of perfection, the hormone has been nicknamed the “Barbie drug.” [ Language English Subject Medical] [full cite] (Oct. 28, 2005)

barrier nursing n. In 1943 my mother arrived as the new sister on a children’s ward in a north of England hospital—which had a matron—to find chickenpox was endemic there. She cleared it up by using a technique known as barrier nursing. The infected children were separated from the rest and a screen of disinfectant-impregnated sheets was erected between the two groups. The nurses dealing with the infected children wore masks, gowns and gloves which were taken off when they left the infected area and had no contact with the “non-infectious” nurses while on duty. Barrier nursing seems to be a technique forgotten during the halcyon days of effective antibiotics. [English Medical] [full cite] (Aug. 4, 2006)

bed-blocker n. A former railway worker who paid his taxes and worked hard to put two children through private school, Ray Smith had been languishing in Launceston General Hospital since August, waiting for a bed in a secure dementia facility. Health bureaucrats cursed him as a “bed blocker,” which is ironic given Smith’s propensity to wander off up the corridor and out the front door. [English Medical] [full cite] (May. 11, 2004)

bed-blocker n. Many veteran Conservative MPs who might have been expected to retire from the fray at the next General Election, are obdurately staying put.…Since Tony Blair is unlikely to send them to the House of Lords on retirement, they are opting to stay in the Commons, to while away their twilight years.…They are aptly known as “the bedblockers.” [English Medical] [full cite] (May. 11, 2004)

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