Health and medical care Culture Commentary

Checkup: many Americans go to the doctor once a year for a checkup. At that time, the doctor listens to any complaints about their health, answers questions, and performs a routine examination. In addition to visiting the doctor, many Americans go to the dentist for a routine checkup every six months. Children must have a checkup before they can begin school, and they are required to have proof that they have been immunized against mea­sles, tetanus, diphtheria, and other diseases. They must continue to have checkups during the course of their school years. Health care in the United States is very expensive. Most Americans have health insurance through their place of employment, or they buy it on their own.

Medicaid: a system in the US by which the government helps to pay the medical costs of people on incomes.

Medicare: a system of medical care in the US provided by the government, es­pecially for old people over 65.

Fahrenheit thermometer: is used in the US to take a temperature. A normal tem­perature on a Fahrenheit thermometer is 98.6. To convert Fahrenheit to Centigrade use the formula:

C = (F – 32) x 5 : 9.

To convert Centigrade to Fahrenheit use the formula:

F = C x (9 : 5) + 32.

Vocabulary

Health problems

Illness / disease / ailment / sickness / condition

illness (BrE) – a health problem that you are suffering from, which makes you feel ill

e.g. 80% of patients now recover completely from this illness and are able to lead perfectly normal lives.

disease – a particular kind of sickness or disorder; it has a name and symptoms

e.g. Measles, mumps and influenza are common diseases.

• childhood / contagious / communicable / curable / incurable disease

ailment – an illness that is not very serious

e.g. The medicine was supposed to cure all kinds of ailments, ranging from colds to back pains.

sickness (AmE) – a state of being sick (contrasted with health)

e.g. The doctor diagnosed the sickness as tuberculosis.

condition – a problem which affects someone's health permanently

Names of health problems

AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome), appendicitis, allergy, ane­mia, cancer, chicken-pox, cholera, cold, constipation, diabetes, diphtheria, diarrhea, food poisoning, gout, a heart attack, hepatitis, high blood pres­sure, HIV (the human immune deficiency virus), influenza (flu), insomnia, indigestion, measles, nausea, pneumonia, polio, rheumatism, scarlet fever, small pox, stroke, tonsillitis, tuberculosis, tumor, typhoid fever, ulcer, upset stomach

People

• general practitioner (GP) (BrE) – a doctor who is trained in general medicine and whose job is to treat the people in a particular area

• physician (AmE) / doctor (BrE)

• nurse

• pharmacist (AmE) / druggist (AmE) / chemist (BrE)

• patient

Names of specialists

allergist, cardiologist, chiropodist, dentist, dermatologist, family doctor, hematologist, neurologist, obstetrician, ophthalmologist, oral surgeon, orthodontist, orthopedist, pediatrician, psychiatrist, radiologist, surgeon

WHAT ARE YOUR SYMPTOMS?

ache / pain

ache – a continuous, not sharp or sudden pain, usually used in com­pounds: headache, earache, backache, toothache, stomachache

e.g. After three days the ache in his shoulder had almost disap­peared.

• to have a backache / an earache / a stomachache / a toothache (AmE) / backache / earache / stomachache / toothache (BrE)

pain – suffering of mind or body, localized kind of bodily suffering

e.g. I suddenly got a stabbing pain across heart and collapsed to the floor.

• pains – pain that we feel repeatedly inside part of our body

• to be in pain

• to cry with pain

• to feel some / no / not much / a great deal of pain

• pain-killer

• pain-relief

• painful

• a pain in the knee

to ache / to pain / to hurt

to ache – to have a steady or continuous pain

e.g. I went to an aerobics class on Tuesday and I've been aching ever since.

to pain – to have or give pain

e.g. My foot is still paining me.

to hurt – to cause bodily injury or pain to; to damage

e.g. Put the stick down, Terry, you might hurt someone with it.

• to be / get sick (AmE) / to be / fall ill (BrE)

• to be laid up with an ulcer / a virus / a bug

• to be down with (pneumonia)

• to break one's wrist / leg

• to feel out of sorts

• to get worse

• to itch (about skin)

• to lose one's appetite / voice

• to sprain one's ankle

• to have a (bad, awful) cold / a cough / a stuffy (running) nose / a heart trouble / a sore throat / a fever / a stomachache / chest pains / an earache / a pain in one's side / a rash on one's chest / spots / a bruise on one's leg / a black eye / a lump on one's arm / indigestion / diarrhea / painful joints / blisters / sunburn

• to feel sick / dizzy / breathless / shivery / particularly bad at night

• to be depressed / constipated / tired all the time

• to have a cavity in one's tooth / a bad tooth

• the tooth is sensitive to cold and heat

WHAT DO DOCTORS DO?

to cure / to treat / to heal / to ease / to relieve / to get over

to cure – to make someone who has a sickness completely well again, especially by means of medical treatment

e.g. The drug is used to cure heart diseases.

• to cure smb of smth

to treat – to give someone the treatment that cures a particular sickness or medical problem, especially when this is the usual way of curing

e.g. Some US hospitals refuse to treat people who don't have medical insurance.

to heal – to make completely better, restore to health

e.g. This cream is used for healing cuts and bruises.

to ease – to give medicine, for example, to try to make symptoms go away

e.g. If I can ease one life the aching, ... I shall not live in vain.

to relieve – to free from pain

e.g. The passengers swallow to relieve the pressure on their ear­drums.

to get over – to become better with or without help from a doctor or from medicine

e.g. She's just got over mumps.

• to carry out / conduct / perform sur­gery

• to examine the patient

• to feel smb's pulse

• to listen to smb's chest (lungs, heart)

• to look in smb's ears

• to make a diagnosis

• to measure smb

• to prescribe some medicine

• to take smb's temperature / blood pressure / a blood sam­ple for a test

• to weigh smb

• to clean a cavity

• to fill / stop smb's tooth

• to extract / pull out smb's tooth

What does the doctor prescribe or advise?

• to be on sick leave

• to be operated on for (appendicitis)

• to be tested for the AIDS antibody

• to bring down the fever

• to fit smb in for an operation

• to put a bandage on

• to follow / keep to a diet / stay on a diet

• to follow the directions

• to have smb's leg put in a cast

• to take one pill three times a day after meals

• to rub on (a little ointment)

• to stay in bed

• to take a teaspoonful of med­icine

• to have some shots (AmE) / injections (BrE)

• to have one's blood (blood pressure) tested

• to have the prescription prepared (AmE) / made up (BrE)

• to have smb's chest / lungs X-rayed

• to have total bed rest

What might the doctor ask you?

• Are you taking any medication?

• Do you have health insurance?

• Do you have any allergies?

• Have you ever had any operations?

Places

• hospital

• in / to / from the hospital (AmE) / in / to / from / hospital (BrE)

• to be admitted to (the) hospital

• psychiatric hospital (AmE) / mental hospital (BrE)

• clinic (AmE) / surgery (BrE) – a building, often part of a hospital where people come for special treatment or advice e.g. family planning clinic

• emergency department / room

• hospice

• health center (AmE) / health centre (BrE) – a building where doctors have their offices and various medical services are provided for people who come for treatment or advice

• medical center (AmE) – a very large building that contains a hospital, doctors' offices, and other medical services

• unit – a part of a hospital where one particular type of medical prob­lem is treated

• coronary / burns / intensive care unit

• ward

• drugstore (AmE) / chemist's shop (BrE)

• all night drugstore

Equipment and remedies many people keep in their homes

• adhesive tape

• aspirin

• antacid

• baking soda

• Band-Aids

• boric acid

• cough medicine

• thermometer

• iodine

• milk of magnesia

• nasal drops / spray

• petroleum jelly

• rubbing alcohol

• sterile gauze

• heating pad

Word combinations

• baby-boomers

• birth (death) rate

• to die of lung cancer / a heart attack

• medical insurance policy

• medical history

• to make an appointment with the doctor

• to nurse

Text 1

Health and the Body

Pre-reading. Find out how to pronounce the following words and word combina­tions: