Reports of Medical Conditions Are Making Mose Unstable

Comments (...)

NPR has been reporting all morning that the alleged shooter in the Fort Hood massacre is in "stable condition."

The Associated Press reported this about the suspect:

He was among 30 people wounded in the spree and remained hospitalized on a ventilator Friday. All but two of the injured were still hospitalized, and all were in stable condition.

Let's get one thing straight:

STABLE IS NOT A CONDITION!

Stable is the lack of change in a condition: Not getting worse; not getting better. Unchanging. Stable.

Good is a condition, which says, “She'll be fine.”

Critical is a condition, which says, “He has life-threatening injuries.”

A victim in good condition can be stable.

A person is critical condition can be stable.

The people in the morgue are always stable.

BUT STABLE IS NOT A CONDITION!

So, are those injuries – to the alleged shooter and the other wounded people – not so bad, very serious, or somewhere in between?

Stable tells me their condition is not changing rapidly.

But it doesn't tell me their condition.

GOT THAT?

Comments