Re: use of he/she/they

Subject: Re: use of he/she/they
From: Beth Agnew <bagnew -at- INSYSTEMS -dot- COM>
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 1997 16:58:16 -0400

Barclay, I think you've done a fine job with it as it is. I will use this
opportunity to point out something that jumped out at me, but only because
I had a long (and horrendous!) contract removing gender bias from a huge
pile of boring government information: In the example, did anyone notice
that the female has dependents, suggesting a caregiving role, and the male
is "self-insured under an indemnity plan" suggesting independence and
autonomy? My former bureaucratic masters would have had a fit!

I know, I know, if a person has dependents it could also mean being the
breadwinner (single moms? - yikes! Another bias!). This gender /
gender-less thing is so insidious! (But mark you, see how deftly I avoided
he/she/it two sentences ago.) Can we talk about trucks and space ships now?

Barclay Blanchard wrote:

>What's the difference between patients and members?
>A patient is anyone who receives medical treatment from your enterprise.
>A member is someone who's part of a managed care plan.
>Someone could be a member and not be a patient if her dependents,
>for instance, are patients.
>Someone could be a patient and not a member if he is not insured or
>if he is self insured under an indemnity plan.
>It's likely that most of your patients are eligible for membership
>in some group care plan.

Beth Agnew
Senior Technical Writer, InSystems Technologies Inc.
mailto:bagnew -at- insystems -dot- com Tel: (905) 513-1400 ext. 280
Fax: (905) 513-1419
Visit us at: http://www.insystems.com
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