Toast to Life 12 (non-respectful way of speaking in medical industry)

(Note: Google Translate from Japanese version with minor touching-ups.)

The other day, I found a post on Twitter by a person, possibly a medical doctor, which read, "don't talk to your patients in plain language ("tameguchi" or non respectful way of speaking to others)". He added by explaining his intention as follows: "no matter what background they have, age, gender, and others, there will be no exception. The opportunity you can do it is only when you both sides establish rapport for a long period of time and have come to win strong bonds enough to allow you both for such a rather nasty language, which should be based on the mutual trusts. I am always wondering why you guys are not doing it to me as an instructing doctor, but why to your patients in charge. You think about it." I imagined the Twitter was a word spelled out by a medical doctor to his nurses around.

When I was hospitalized in Singapore, back in June, all the words spoken by the medical staff there were in English, and I did not understand the subtle honorific expressions, and probably because I could not pick up an expression that otherwise would determine the hierarchical relationship between each other. Upon admission to Raffles Hospital, a prerequisite questionnaire included was "what language do you want to hear (note: not "speak") in the hospital?". And among other languages included were also "Chinese" and "Hindu" on top of English. "Welcome to Singapore (hospital!), a multilingual nation." I felt that the country's private hospital was highly reputed for things like this politeness. 

On the other hand, when I returned to Japan in July and was admitted to a hospital in Narita, the first thing I felt was a sense of discomfort to the words the nurse talked to me with. My first impression was that I was 100% unsure with how to react to them when I heard those words, even if it was up to the other person's will to pick his/her language, whether plain or polite. At the same time, it was strange for me to hear them speaking in honorifics to their doctors. "I might have been accustomed to the English spoken by Singapore medical staff", I thought. Some Japanese nurses apply respectful ways to patients in charge, but the significant numbers are (albeit a minority) foreign nationals such as Chinese (my guess from their names). Even very minor number of Japanese using the polite ones are so-called "extremely well-mannered" people.

I myself haven't contemplated all the tricks in the medical industry. With the spread of Covid-19 revealing the emergency situation of medical institutions here and there, "paying respect to frontline workers" has become a buzz word. Rather nasty-mouthing culture in Japan (nurse → patients and outpatients), however, makes it difficult to pay respect to them, as I think. 

(Picture above taken on 9 November 2019 at our kids' Singapore school, with my daughter in the middle in her blue swim suit. She kept swimming for more than seven years. To be continued.)