What "Medical" Refers To
"Medical" refers to anything pertaining to the science and practice of medicine, which encompasses the diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and alleviation of disease, injury, pain, and other physical or mental impairments in human beings.
Core Definition and Scope
The term "medical" fundamentally relates to the field of medicine and its primary goals, which include:
- Relief of pain and suffering 1
- Promotion of health and prevention of disease 1
- Forestalling of death and promoting peaceful death 1
- Cure of disease when possible and care of those who cannot be cured 1
According to the CDC, medical conditions specifically refer to disorders that "disrupt a person's thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others, and daily functioning" when discussing mental health disorders, though this definition extends to all physiological conditions as well 2.
Medical vs. Behavioral Health Distinction
In clinical practice, "medical" is often distinguished from "behavioral health" concerns:
- Medical conditions typically refer to physical, physiological, or organic disease processes requiring acute evaluation and treatment 2
- Behavioral health encompasses mental health, substance abuse conditions, health behavior change, life stresses and crises, and stress-related physical symptoms 2
- The distinction is important in emergency settings where "medical clearance" or "focused medical assessment" aims to exclude medical etiologies for psychiatric symptoms 2
Medical as Practical Knowledge
Medicine represents a particular form of human knowledge that is fundamentally practical rather than purely speculative 3. The medical field:
- Requires physicians to perform actions in addition to explaining phenomena 3
- Organizes diverse knowledge, principles, and explanations to achieve practical therapeutic purposes 3
- Functions as a form of anthropology dealing with biological and psychological aspects of human beings 3
Regulatory Context
From a regulatory perspective, "medical" has specific legal definitions:
- The FDA defines medical devices as instruments intended for "diagnosis of disease or other conditions, or in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease" 2
- EU legislation similarly defines medical devices as any instrument, apparatus, or software intended for "diagnosis, prevention, monitoring, treatment or alleviation of disease" 2
Common Clinical Usage
In emergency and primary care settings, the term "medical" frequently appears in phrases like:
- "Medical clearance" - the process of determining whether behavioral or psychiatric symptoms are caused by underlying medical conditions requiring acute treatment 2
- "Medical stability" - the absence of medical conditions requiring acute evaluation or treatment 2
- "Medical comorbidities" - co-existing physical disease conditions alongside primary diagnoses 2