Life-Alysis
Kasia February 1st, 2008
Back in October I posted this:
Second, euphemisms reach new heights in lunacy: at Warren and Conner there is actually a “Life-alysis Center”. I ask you, how ignorant do you have to be to be frightened of the word “dialysis”?
Someone stumbled across that post (I say that because I rather doubt anyone is systematically reading my archives, but I could be wrong), and commented thus:
Using the term “life-alysis” isn’t so much of a euphemism as it is a state of mind. If you’ve ever actually experienced dialysis you would understand how exhausting, how frightening, how draining the whole thing can be. So some centres in the States have switched their names to Life-Alysis Centres in order to help patients change their thinking…because positive thinking is 90% of the battle in any illness.
Perhaps a little bit more understanding and empathy on your part is needed.
Fair enough. I will agree wholeheartedly with the last statement - it’s a rare person who couldn’t do with a bit more understanding and empathy. I’m certainly no exception.
The poster (Rachel) is correct in her assumption that I have never experienced dialysis, nor has anyone close to me, so I’m pretty ignorant of the toll it takes on one’s body or state of mind. What I was reacting to was the replacement of the Greek prefix “di-” with the word “life”, thinking that people were irrationally reacting to it and refusing to get life-sustaining treatment because they incorrectly associated it with the English word “die”. Considering that I saw this, the only case I had seen of a “life-alysis center”, in a city that has a something like 50% adult rate of functional illiteracy, I don’t think it was an unreasonable assumption on my part, but it may have been an incorrect one (I don’t know if that particular reason plays into centers’ decisions whether or not to rename).
I do know that psychology factors into ongoing medical treatments. I do not know whether there’s any benefit to changing the name to Life-alysis. It seems to me that I’m still too ignorant, and there are too many variables in place, for me to make an assessment. However, I appreciate Rachel’s explanation, and will certainly make an effort to improve in understanding and empathy.
UPDATE: A gentleman by the name of Bill Peckham has posted on the exchange, such as it is, between Rachel and myself, including a tactful correction of the actual etymology of the word. You can read it here.
