Metaphor use in the ICU: rigor with words!

Excerpt

A 70 year-old man had been admitted to the ICU 1 week previously after resuscitation of hypoxemic cardiac arrest. The patient had signs of poor neurological outcome, and the ICU team had decided to withdraw life sustaining treatments. The patient’s spouse and children were awaiting a meeting with a junior physician. After introducing himself, the doctor said: “Your husband, your father, will never wake up, he is comatose. We need to stop critical care now. You know, he’s a vegetable.” For the doctor, the family seemed to have understood. The patient died rapidly after extubation and intravenous sedation to treat dyspnea. Three months later, the ICU received a complaint from the family, saying that the meeting with the physician had been a very bad experience. They were deeply shocked by the use of the word “vegetable” to describe their beloved father and husband. …