Russian Health Ministry issues list of banned phrases for doctors

Russia’s Health Ministry has released new guidelines for the language doctors should use while speaking to patients during virtual appointments. The document was published on the website of the ministry’s Central Research Institute Public Health Information and Organization.

The recommendations include a list of “provocative phrases” that doctors are prohibited from using. Among other new rules, the list instructs doctors to address patients by their names or by the formal second-person pronoun rather than the words for “Woman,” “Young woman,” “Man,” or “Young man” (all of which are used to address people in Russian more frequently than in English).

Other banned terms include diminutive versions of words, the phrases “I can’t” and “We can’t,” and the phrase “Your problem,” which the guidelines recommend replacing with the phrase “Your issue” or “Our situation.”

The document also instructs doctors to avoid “accusatory phrases” such as “I’m not the one who misadvised you” or “What else are you not satisfied with?” Instead, doctors are to apologize to patients who have complaints and to ask how else they can help.

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