Neither of the "Guides" is an "Authority"

Posted By: SoCal on 2006-03-10
In Reply to: AAMT follows AMA's style guide on this issue - but the doctors don't NM

Subject: Neither of the "Guides" is an "Authority"

AMA is NOT a Governmental agency. It consists of physician members that joined VOLUNTARILY to form an Association just like the local County Medical Associations are formed. Unlike the individual State Medical Boards, AMA has NO administrative power over the doctors in United States; therefore, cannot "make" the doctors follow AMA style guide which was written by a group of people including nonphysicians, and is NOT an authority on style. In fact, most of the doctors do not even know the existence of such a guide or the AAMT's BOS, let alone know the contents.

The language of Medicine is universal and there is a certain style with which to write medical terminology irrespective of which side of the Atlantic the physician is located in. The Medical terminology has been something that has been passed on in its ORIGINAL form from generation to generation and has SURVIVED for Centuries until AAMT came along. AAMT's BOS does not follow the authorities like Webster's, Dorland's Medical Dictionary, or any other book used by the medical students in medical schools. Instead, it belongs in a league of its own.

The Medical text books that medical students and physicians follow have physicians and others as contributing authors, but the publishers have highly-skilled "writers" writing for those authors, and those writers take every care possible regarding the style. They research thoroughly and produce flawless text, not the "Queen's English" that you see in AAMT and AMA style guides. If those writers ever saw these style guides, they probably would take excerpts out of them and include in a separate book-titled, "Don't let this happen to you."

Complete Discussion Below:

marks the location of current message within thread

Crohn disease/Crohn's disease? - MTME
- quote from AAMT BOS - see message
  - syndrome and I give them that.....nm - yes but many MDs say Cushing's
    - Schools do not teach doctors whether or not the - use of an apostrophe is correct NM
- hence, it would be apostrophe s.......sm - Named after Burrill Bernard Crohn
- Crohn's disease is the correct form - SoCal
  - It's good to see MTs rebelling about the extremely weird - I love it
  - AAMT follows AMA's style guide on this issue - but the doctors don't NM
    - Neither of the "Guides" is an "Authority" - SoCal
      - hyphenated words. - Misha
        it wrong, cause 99% it usually is!!!....LOL...nm - when an MD spells anything I consider
      - LOL - I loved your last line! - nm
  - absolutely correct what you said about AAMT..nm - Named after Burrill Bernard Crohn
- either way is acceptable .... - CM
  - it's apostrophe s when named after anyone....sm - Named after Burrill Bernard Crohn
  - Thanks! Doctor is dictating it as possessive, so I'll leave it. - MTME

The messages you are viewing are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select the boards given in left menu

Other related messages found in our database