Bertrand M. Bell, MD; Robert Murden, MD
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To the Editors: In "My Fair Lady," Professor Higgins bemoans the improper use of the English language by many people and concludes by observing that "in America they haven't used it for years." He must have been anticipating the article titled "When Should Patients with Lethal Ventricular Arrhythmia Resume Driving?" (1).
According to Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, lethal is defined as "of relating to or causing death." Clearly, no one with a lethal arrhythmia can subsequently drive. This otherwise excellent article also discusses surviving "out-of-hospital sudden cardiac death," an oxymoron that unfortunately appears prominently in the cardiology literature (3,
Bell BM, Murden R. Surviving Sudden Death: Whatever Happened to Webster?. Ann Intern Med. 1992;116:172. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-116-2-172_2
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Published: Ann Intern Med. 1992;116(2):172.
DOI: 10.7326/0003-4819-116-2-172_2