That consultant said this word...

[Ozwizard]

I went to the hospital to see my results from my consultant. Result of this is that I will have to have surgery that has a six to eight week recovery time. As he was explaining my condition he said that it is very common in " Negroid ladies"!!
The nurse in the room looked at me and shifted uncomfortably in her seat! And I took a second to register if he really did say that. Then I did a nervous laugh and said to him " you must not use that word" he said "what, that is what you are" " what is wrong with Negroid"? I said " stop, use another word". He said " oh I didn't know that Negroid would offend you"
Aibu that he should not have said that word?

OP your reaction was very understandable.

Nice generalisation and stereotyping there Flat.
^

I KNOW it's not the same but this thread reminds me a little of threads where unthinking medical staff have referred to an 'abortion' when someone has suffered a miscarriage. It might be the correct medical terminology to call a miscarriage a spontaneous abortion but it still can cause upset.

The general consensus Supermanpamts is clear

I am white, red hair and freckles, Irish parents. When I had my first baby the midwife told me I had a negroid pelvis, she was African. I never asked her what it actually meant. I was busy with the baby I suppose. I often wondered where my negroid pelvis came from?

So why do you keep arguing then OP? Any post that questions your 'AIBU' has been met with argument from you. If you do not think YABU why post 'AIBU'?
Genuine question.

Just googled it and came up with this conclusion to an MRI study of the racial differences in pelvic anatomy.

White women have a wider pelvic inlet, wider outlet, and shallower anteroposterior outlet than African-American women. In addition, after vaginal delivery, white women demonstrate less pelvic floor mobility. These differences may contribute to observed racial differences in obstetric outcomes and to the development of pelvic floor disorders

I wonder if it mean I have more pelvic floor mobility as well and if it means I have a greater or lesser chance of a pelvic floor disorder.

"The term "Negroid" is still used in certain disciplines such as forensic and physical anthropology.[3] In a medical context, some scholars have recommended that the term Negroid be avoided in scientific writings because of its association with scientific racism.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negroid#cite_note-28"

However, probably most doctors would not use it but sometimes the best doctors have awful bed side manner. If they save your life I suspect that the words they use become pretty irrelevant.

There is a massive issue in medicine which thankfully this doctor is avoiding - which is treating everyone the same whereas women, children, different races have different medical issues and need specific special drugs at times but medical research is not doing enough to produce specific treatments relevant to their race and group. If that doctor knows about these important racial differences I think a pat on the back and a bunch of flower to him is in order. Let us get our priorities right.

For some posts it's clear that I am having to keep pointing out things from the original post.

Deo not at all. He's not getting any flowers from me. He was totally right to say this is more of an issue for the OP's ethnic group. That's fine. His terminology was not.

And his subsequent comments were disgraceful too.

"It might be the correct medical terminology to call a miscarriage a spontaneous abortion but it still can cause upset."

That's not the medical professionnal's fault though is it? Some women would, on the contrary, be upset that a doctor presumed they didn't know that meaning of the word abortion.

If a firefighter pulled me from a burning building saving my life can he say " I saved your life negroid" no he wouldn't because he/she is doing their professional job. Even if the firefighter did say it and I said " you mustn't use that word" then went on to say it twice is that not offensive or should I give a bunch of flowers and a pat on the back!

I don't think he was wrong to use the word. In fact. If I were in his position I would always opt for the scientifically used word as its most correct and (hopefully) least likely to offend.

Unfortunately I think people are so sensitive about this issue that all words will offend somebody - I would generally use the word 'black', however I do know someone who finds this offensive and prefers 'coloured'. Essentially, you can't win when trying to select an inoffensive word!

I do think the doctor should have been more polite when you voiced objections and although scientifically he was correct when he said 'that's what you are', that does come across as massively patronising and disrespectful.

OP how am i stereotyping
Those from the Med do express themselves with their hands and arms.
Its a fact. I should know half my family are Turkish Cypriot.

however I do know someone who finds this offensive and prefers 'coloured'

Is that in the UK? Very unusual to think coloured is OK here IME, but I know not in other countries (as mentioned above somewhere)

I think there are a lot of medical terms that don't sit right with the patient.

I started a thread this week about the phrase routine operation and that from the patient's prospective it doesn't seem a routine operation, and can cause distress. Same for MC and Negroid.

I did have a doctor say to me about an illness in one of my dc, that they had never seen it in causicoid but they had seen it in older negroid, so have heard it only used in a purely medical context.

"I would generally use the word 'black', however I do know someone who finds this offensive and prefers 'coloured'."

Yes, it can be a minefield. I used the term non-white in a comment on the Guardian and was called a racist by defining people as if white were the norm. They didn't tell me what word they would have preferred for non-white so I'll continue to use it.
Someone is not necessarily a racist for not using the term a particular person prefers.

OP re your fire fighter comment. No one would use the word negroid or white in that context you have described. Would they? I doubt it.

Deo "However, probably most doctors would not use it"

Apart from P Nkwo of the University of Nigeria teaching hospital and various other "foreign" doctors. scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?as_ylo=2012&q=gynecology+negroid&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5

The OP has already said that the doctor was foreign, possibly Greek.

OP
It's good to know that your health is good enough to complain about your consultants semantics.

If a firefighter pulled me from a burning building saving my life can he say " I saved your life negroid"

You are being ridiculous with that analogy IMO.

Kesstrel
Yes she did say he was possibly Greek. Then she needs to understand that not every person who is foreign working another country is going to be 'quite up' with all words that could be portrayed as offensive to some.

I would not have bat an eyelid in this instance but would have been more concerned with the operation.

Again, I didn't find it offensive the first time and called him out on it. He went on to repeat it twice after telling him to stop. There is actually something wrong with the word when he has been asked to not say it stop saying it!