Is it appropriate for hospitals to use the R-word in medical reports?

Question

I just had a conversation with a classmate who is currently a scribe at a local community hospital and apparently they use the R-word in their medical reports when referring to people with mental disabilities.
They defended the use of the R-word claiming it is a medical diagnosis and is a current medical term, despite the fact that it is deemed derogatory, is no longer a medical diagnosis, and has been replaced with "intellectual disability" at a federal level by Rosa's law. They claim as long as they don't say it directly to patients it doesn't matter since it's an accurate medical term.
Do you think the R-word is appropriate for doctors to use in reports? What about when they're talking to patients?

Answer

As a medical student I can see why it may be hard to completely abolish a medical term even if it is derogatory or offensive. 
Majority of science and medical teachings are derived from history and elder people in the profession may find it really hard to change their medical vocabulary after using a certain term for literally tens of years. 
In the medical profession, we don't see these terms as derogatory or with any connotations. They are simply what is.
It is people out side of the medical profession who become highly offended by the terms because of the stigma attached to it. No doctor with good ethical practice would use the word 'retarded' as a derogatory term.

I think it is fine to use the term in medical documentation but definitely not to the patient or verbally as doctors do need to be aware of the fact that these words can hurt.

Answer

If a doc can't update his language that's a problem. Doesn't matter how old or how long they've been a doctor or in the medical field. When things change you change too. 
At one point LGBT+ people were discriminated against via hospitals and treated as mentally ill. If a doctor referred to a LGBT+ person, like myself, as that (mentally ill, now just imagine an actually handicapped person being called the r word) in reports he's a shit doc and needs to change. Your job hinges on being up to date with medical practices and execution. It is not rocket science or brain surgery to switch out that word.

Answer

No… What kind of janky ass out of date hospital is that?

Answer

It's not appropriate. That word should no longer be used.

Answer

Absolutely not, doesn't matter how long yhe term has been used it's outdated and completely innapropriate. There are so many other non-offensive terms you can use to describe someone with a mental handicap, like I just did, it's not that damn hard.

Answer

It's not appropriate for anyone to use that word.

Answer

I think that medical professionals should use the latest terminology. I understand that it's harder for older people to change the way they've done things their entire career, but most careers require continuing education for that reason.

Answer

The word is retarded, correct?  Retarded was the term for a disabled person back in the 40's through 60's, just like handicapped and special are words for the mentally disabled today.  People simply started using it to make fun of the mentally disabled.  Just like people use "special" to make fun today.  The terms were medical and perfectly acceptable for a while.  It just depends on how you use them.

Answer

From what I understand every hospital does things a bit differently and some don't want to update terms like this or even gender to sex for a number of reasons. I would ask the hospital why they are using that term

Is it appropriate for hospitals to use the R-word in medical reports?

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