Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Strangulation Activity

Long has been the debate over what exactly to call this activity. The media calls it 'The Choking Game', kids call it "Pass Out" or 'Blackout' and the CDC will be calling it "strangulation activity".

After reading the article here: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/checkup/ and the following part:

Toblin says the idea for the name switch came up when she first presented data from that study to a group of physicians. One of the doctors was Katz, who suggested that a more ominous name might drive home the point that it's serious business. Katz and Toblin reason that, just as calling motor vehicle accidents "crashes" suggests that they are potentially preventable and thus allows for taking steps to prevent such events, so might calling the choking game "strangulation" allow for a different, more effective set of interventions.



It makes some sense. However, strangulation only encompasses a few methods of The Choking Game. Would the popular chest compression method be excluded from the parameters of this title?

Just our food for thought. What are you thoughts on the term "strangulation activity'?