Out with "the old," elderly, and aged

doi:10.1136/bmj.39111.694884.94

BMJ 2007;334:316 (10 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.39111.694884.94

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Out with "the old," elderly, and aged

Marianne Falconer, specialist registrar, Desmond O'Neill, associate professor

¹ Department of Medical Gerontology, Trinity Centre for Health Sciences, Adelaide and Meath Hospital, Dublin

arhc@amnch.ie

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In his analysis of the challenge of simultaneouslyassisting and engaging in a respectful way with groups of differingstatus in society, the sociologist Richard Sennett reflectedon why respect—which, unlike food, costs nothing—isin such short supply.¹ One answer lies in the language we use.Listening to the wishes of clients and patients with disabilityor of a different ethnicity has led to a more sensitive useof language in encounters with people from these groups.

Older people, who not only are key clients ofhealth services but also experience ageism as a widespread andpotent barrier to adequate health care,² have clearly signalledtheir wishes to be addressed in respectful terms. In a Europe-widesurvey they have articulated a preference for "older" or "senior"as the defining adjectives for their demographic grouping.³They also said which terms they deemed unacceptable: "elderly,""aged," and "old," with a particularly forceful . . . [Full text of this article]

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