Patients who were affected by diagnostic errors were more likely to have stigmatizing language in their medical records, according to a new in JAMA Internal Medicine. The cohort study involved more than 2300 hospital admissions during which patients died or were transferred to the intensive care unit. Stigmatizing language included phrases that questioned a patient鈥檚 credibility, stereotyped them by race or social class, or implied that the patient was 鈥渄ifficult.鈥� It was more common among Black patients and those with housing instability.

About 8% of people with diagnostic errors had stigmatizing language in their medical records compared with about 4% of patients without these errors. Patients with biased descriptions in their medical records also had a higher risk of delays in care and communication.