Rita Vaicekonyte Sep 4, 2018:

These are discussions on the use of the word from a linguistic/etymological perspective. But we should focus on what IS at present, be it a "good" term or "discriminatory", and not at what this term might be in the future or how to make the patient feel more empowered, as this is terminology used by doctors and aimed at other doctors, not patients (in most cases). "Reports no change" is also not a phrase that would work in instances of "patient denies MI, STD, jaundice, diabetes mellitus, etc".

Valters Feists Sep 4, 2018:

Some very long debates about “patient denies”. It is controversial to use “patient denies”, and there have been some truly long arguments both in favour and against it.

(1)
«being a patient is often a disempowering experience and tolerance for disempowering language is lessened under those circumstances. Doctors could instead choose to report the data as, “patient reports no change in diet.” [rather than “Patient denies change in diet,”]»
- http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2267#comment-65073

(2)
«“The patient denies...”
I remember being surprised the first time I saw this phrase on a medical chart; it seemed to allude to a frank suspicion that everything the patient said either was, or very well could be, a lie.»
- https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/the-patient-denies....