Frederic Ivan Ting: Persons With Cancer Rather Than Cancer Patients

Frederic Ivan Ting, Co-Chair of Training Committee at Philippine Society of Medical Oncology, shared on LinkedIn:

“Persons With Cancer Rather Than Cancer Patients—Semantics Matter

Annabelle showed us that this small change truly has the potential to make a big impact in creating a patient-centered perspective in providing cancer care around the world. This change should not just be limited to the medical profession, but also to the paramedical specialties, social services team, family members, and everyone who interacts with persons with cancer.

Annabelle’s story should also be a lesson for medical journals to change their guidelines and policies and to mandate the use of ‘persons with cancer’ rather than ‘cancer patients.’ Likewise, this is a plea for professional societies to strictly require speakers and participants in meetings and conferences to not allow the use of  ‘cancer patients’ in their presentation slides. Let us make it a habit to use the term ‘persons with cancer’ rather than ‘cancer patients’ because semantics matter.

Link to full paper.”

Source: Frederic Ivan Ting/LinkedIn