Please think about the power of language: Two online articles about a child with a foot in his head

[trthnd4jstc]

From the Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/18/tumor-found-in-newborn-sa_n_152033.html

Unfortunately, they list the child's name, which I am against. A child deserves privacy and anonymity.

Also, Huffington Post calls it a tumor. What a powerful negative image that word conveys. But, ABC does it differently, http://abcnews.go.com/Health/SecondOpinion/story?id=6488655&page=1
At least ABC calls it a benign growth, which is a lot kinder than using the word tumor. Words can be powerful messengers to our self-image, if we cannot the quell our own self-loathing, thus not bringing a negativity upon ourselves also, via self-fulfilling prophecy.

[Ex Lurker]

1. three comments

1. Evidently it was the parents who assented to this, so take it up with them

2. It will be several years before the child is old enough to be aware of any of this, so it's not gonna do any damage to his self image anytime soon.

3. People, especially doctors, should call things by their names. The medical definition of this thing is tumor, so that's what it should be called. Would saying it's a fuzzy bunny make the reality any different?

[LisaL]

2. Tumor is a growth.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tumor

[anigbrowl]

3. Please also think about the power of accuracy

One is an AP article printed verbatim, the other is a rewrite of it. This information is at the top of both stories.

I seriously doubt a 3 day old child is going to have their privacy affected, and the parents must have chosen to waive their right thereof or it wouldn't be publishable under HIPAA law. There's a variety of reasons you might want to do that - to thank fundraisers who helped pay for the operation, most often.

In any case the ABC rewrite also (correctly) refers to the growth as a tumor - it's in the caption of the picture. A 'tumor' is just an abnormal growth; it can be a wart, for example.

Cancer is a type of tumor, not the other way around. The negative image is in your mind, not in the word.