Legal and Medical Terminology
Legal terms
Expect procedural vocabulary: deposition, interrogatory, request for production, arraignment, voir dire, allocution, sidebar, proffer, hearsay, foundation, and Latin phrases such as habeas corpus, prima facie, sua sponte, and res judicata. Know the difference between a plaintiff and a defendant, a complaint and an answer, and an indictment and an information. Understand that testimony is spoken; pleadings are written.
Medical terms
Build from roots, prefixes, and suffixes: cardi-, nephr-, hepat-, -itis, -ectomy, -otomy, -oscopy, -emia, -pnea. Know common abbreviations used in records - b.i.d., t.i.d., q.d., PRN, NPO, and the danger of "q.d." versus "q.i.d." - and standard anatomical terms.
Traps
- Soundalikes: ileum/ilium, dysphagia/dysphasia, abduction/adduction, peroneal/perineal, costal/coastal.
- Silent letters and doubled consonants: pharynx, arrhythmia, hemorrhage, diarrhea, occlusion.
- Ambiguous abbreviations: "MS" (multiple sclerosis, mitral stenosis, morphine sulfate) must be resolved from context.
- Latin near-misses: "res gestae" versus "res judicata."
Rule of thumb
When a term is unfamiliar, break it into parts and verify with a medical dictionary or the speaker before finalizing. Accuracy beats guessing; mark the term for review rather than inventing a spelling.
Worked example
A witness says "dysphasia." That means difficulty speaking, not difficulty swallowing (dysphagia). Confirm the intended meaning, because the two words describe entirely different clinical findings and can alter the substance of the record.