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A comment on Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left” and “right?”. Parent comment

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by hanoz on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @07:34PM (#35622006)
> At the other extreme you have the medical profession where the first thing you learn in medical school is that left/right always refer to the patient's perspective.

Didn't know that! So how pervasive is this principal? Would it apply to a descriptive reference to a diagram in a book for example?

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Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by antognini on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @07:57PM (#35622239)
Yes. As a random example, you'll see that although the lungs are seen from the perspective of a doctor facing a patient, they are labelled left/right from the patient's perspective: https://www.therespiratorysystem.com/wp-content/uploads/2017...
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Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by zarzavat on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @11:37PM (#35623986)
The reason is that when a patient comes to a doctor they will say they have a pain in their left side, without further qualification. So it makes sense to center the entire terminology around that situation. Otherwise doctors would constantly be having to do error-prone conversions.
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Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by kqr on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @01:11AM (#35624476)
Well, that and also doctors can walk around patients they are examining, e.g. auscultation of the lungs on the back.
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Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by lostlogin on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @03:34AM (#35625397)
Doctors examine patients?

I thought they just sent them to radiology?

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Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by beefield on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @12:52AM (#35624361)
I think the principle is pretty pervasive also outside medicals. I do not recall anyone ever refer to my left hand as right hand (other than maybe by mistake), regardless how they are oriented around me.
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Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by kgwgk on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @03:08AM (#35625205)
After all, doctors are humans and also have a body. It would be strange for them to write books saying that the heart is [#] on the right side when they have it on their left, etc.

[%] usually, because this is HN

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