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Medical education

Patient privacy and Latin

To the Editor: The recent letters1-5 on the “lamentable decline in the use of both Latin and Greek terms in medical practice”4 activated a not-too-distant memory for me. In the 1980s, the Department of Academic General Practice at the University of Western Australia was an orphan, struggling for resources and a toehold in the medical curriculum. Having exhausted all avenues of progress, I managed to obtain an appointment with the Vice-Chancellor. His prior meeting that day had been with leaders of the Greek community, who trooped out of his office looking rather glum. They were unhappy that ongoing financial support would not be provided for the teaching of Modern Greek at the University. That night, I had a dream. In it, the V-C returned home to his wife, who asked, “And how was your day, Bob?” “Oh, just like any other”, he replied. “Kamien from General Practice was in, complaining about the demise of classical Greek from the medical curriculum”. The next day, I rang the V-C to tell him about the dream. He laughed. I have wondered, since, whether such unlikely events may have strengthened his resolve to provide the toehold that our Department so desperately needed.

Max Kamien

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