Word Definitions

I spent the better part of the day at the hospital yesterday while my husband was having same-day surgery.  (To start with - it wasn't really the "better" part of the day - I can think of a lot of "better" things to have been doing!  And same-day surgery?  Aren't all surgeries done in the same day?)

Are you getting a sense that my blog is about the way we use our language?  Well, my specific issue is the meaning of the word "privacy."  When we arrived at the surgery desk, we were met with a sign telling us to wait at that spot until we were called by a receptionist to check in, for the sake of the privacy of the patients.  So far so good.  I can understand not hovering behind someone while they talk about what body part is going to be worked on, etc.

When it was our turn with the receptionist the only "private" information that was discussed was my husband's name and date of birth.  With identify theft, I guess this should be kept private.  I was also handed a slip of paper with a number on it.  This was my husband's assigned number for the day.  Using this secret code I could check his status on an electronic board hanging on the wall.  The board told me where he was - in pre-op, OR, or recovery 1 or 2.  I can certainly see why that info would need to be kept private.  (Really?)

I still can kind of understand this, in a general sense.  However, I lost all sense of the meaning of the word privacy when I was with my husband.  He was in a cubicle with a curtain partially drawn.  And although hospital gowns are better than they used to be, they still ain't much!

But the real kicker was when the surgeons would come out to talk about how the surgeries had gone.  All of us were waiting in one big, open waiting room.  The surgeon would explain to the family about the surgery.  They almost always started with, "It went well."  I know this because I could hear every single one of them that came out!

With my understanding of "privacy" I would think that the actual physical body and the intricacies of what was done to that body would be of utmost importance - not whether he was in the OR or the recovery room.  I'm thinking I need to go back to school and learn the politically correct meaning of some words, because they don't seem to mean what I think they mean.

And, by the way, don't even get me started on the meaning of "government shut-down" with congress members still getting paid!