Latin and Prescriptions

If you’re one of the hundreds of millions of Americans who've gotten a prescription this year, you probably noticed that the text was illegible. And not because of the doctor’s calligraphy. Even typewritten scripts are impossible to understand. That’s because they’re written in Latin. Hmm…now isn’t that interesting. Does your doctor or your pharmacist speak Latin? Probably not. So, what could possibly be the purpose of writing instructions and details for something as important, potent and very dangerous in an ancient language that is not only arcane and inscrutable, but that hasn’t even been spoken commonly for 2000 years?

The answer lies in the recognition that language is actually a type of power. Those who know the language, have the power. Professions that seek to entrench themselves as experts have always used jargon to position themselves as omniscient authorities. Even the word “author”-ity congers images of language and its fabrication.

Doctors often defend the practice of Latin-izing prescriptions by claiming that it’s necessary for precise communication and pointing out that the scripts are written for the purpose of pharmacists filling, not patient information.

But that’s not how I look at it. Clarity in script writing is really a health care issue. Pharmaceuticals are potent! Their prescribed directions are a critical component of the therapeutic process as well as the physician-patient relationship. Their potential to help or harm makes them among the most significant of all written communications. Composing prescriptions in an incomprehensible fashion may be in the doctor’s interest, but for patients, it creates the potential for otherwise avoidable errors and possible toxicity.

Best bet when you get a prescription from your doctor is to ask him to go over the drug dosage and directions with you, make sure the handwriting is legible. And when you pick up you’re medication from your pharmacy, look carefully at the bottle to confirm that the information on the label matches up with what you were prescribed. For refills it’s a good idea to open the bottle and check the medication to make sure the medication or the brands and strengths are correct.

At the end of the day all the stages the medical process are supposed to benefit the patient and pharmaceuticals are serious business. Drugs are powerful chemicals and prescriptions written in a foreign and ancient language raise the risks dire and even deadly consequences and that’s just not fair.