Return-Path: <nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.9.3/8.9.0.Beta5/980425bjb) with SMTP id NAA01807; Wed, 23 Feb 2000 13:14:17 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2000 13:14:17 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <01BF7DE9.C5D0A320.sandras@u.washington.edu> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: Sandra Smith <sandras@u.washington.edu> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-HEALTH:2221] RE: Health literacy and lawsuits X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Mailer: Microsoft Internet E-mail/MAPI - 8.0.0.4211 Status: OR There is evidence that patients who feel informed are more satisfied and that satisfied patients do not sue. Legal language has precise meaning to lawyers and the courts, much as medical language has precise meaning to doctors and academia. That does not make it more informative to the average reader. It is a dilemma -- how to balance legal precision or medical precision and the individual investor's or patient's need to understand the practical implications that are extremely personal and highly emotional.SS -----Original Message----- From: MarkH38514@aol.com [SMTP:MarkH38514@aol.com] Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2000 5:58 AM To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: [NIFL-HEALTH:2220] Health literacy and lawsuits Is there any hard evidence that health materials written in plain English have reduced the number of lawsuits? Lawyers tend to believe that their language, because it has been crafted over several hundred years, is fairly precise in its meaning. So when the Securities and Exchange Commission began mandating that mutual fund prospectuses be written in plain English, many lawyers aruged that writing a prospectus in plain English would lead to more lawsuits! Mark Hochhauser For more information, contact: Mark Hochhauser, Ph.D. Readability Consulting 3344 Scott Avenue North Golden Valley, MN 55422-2748 Phone: (612) 521-4672 Fax: (612) 521-5069 E-Mail: MarkH38514@aol.com
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