The Harms of Using the Word “Elderly” in Health Care

Although it is commonly used for administrative purposes, the term elderly has become a derogatory or insulting word that is outdated, creates bias, and does harm, according to Javad Hekmat-panah, MD, professor of neurology and neurosurgery at the University of Chicago.  

In a recent viewpoint published online in The BMJ Opinion, Dr Hekmat-panah argues why this term must be avoided in medicine. He explains that elderly has no clear definition.  

“It conveys that a person is old, but not how old, or old in what capacity,” he said. “In some cultures, it conveys ‘age 65 and above,’ or that a person is at their retirement age, but with people increasingly retiring later and enjoying good health for longer, these meanings are increasingly blurred.”

Dr Hekmat-panah explained that medicine has consistent terminology that is used for diagnosis, communication, and treatment of diseases based on individual age, severity of illness, and comorbidities.  

“The ambiguous term elderly offers no useful information about any of this,” he says. “In medicine it can evoke false ideas about the person being described as elderly in the listener’s mind, introduce unfair social biases and generalizations, and generate ill conceived policies.” 

Dr Hekmat-panah argues that the term elderly is comparable to words like imbecile or idiot. He says that a patient’s actual age is more appropriate and more informative.

According to Dr Hekmat-panah, “Everyone struggles through hardships in order to live a longer life, but nobody wants to grow old or be called old. Older age, however, is unfairly compared to youth: it is a misperception that old age unquestionably leads to illness, unhappiness, loss of attractiveness, and the capacity to make social contributions. These perceptions will only lead to older aged individuals being valued less, treated with diminished respect, and becoming a target for bias and unfair policies.” 

He explains that bias is acquired and once it is formed, it can “erupt” later on.  

“My suggestion that we avoid the term elderly in medicine goes beyond the word itself to encompass all that it connotes: stereotypes, unwarranted impressions, and bias,” Dr Hekmat-panah concluded. “This is essentially a human rights issue. Medicine is the science and art of individualized communication, evaluation, recommendation, and treatment.” 

—Julie Gould

Reference:

Hekmat-panah J. “Elderly”—an outdated and potentially harmful term [published online March 1, 2019]. BMJ Opinion. https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2019/03/01/javad-hekmat-panahelderly-outdated-potentially-harmful-term/.

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