Photo special: diabetes causes amputations

I took this photo on the tube recently. 'Diabetes causes... amputations' seems a bit strong. That's like saying 'cancer causes chemotherapy'.

A warning poster with the message 'Diabetes causes heart disease, stroke, amputations, kidney failure and blindness'

Mind you, 'diabetes can lead to the need for amputation' isn't as catchy, and screws up the sentence structure.

www.diabetes.org.uk/SilentAssassin

3 comments:

Gloom Raider said...

Possibly it also turns out that "neuropathy" causes consternation? On posters, at any rate.

THE GRAMMARPHILE said...

Isn't it gangrene that causes a person to need an amputation? If they'd said "gangrene" instead of "amputation", I bet that would have been more accurate...and "gangrene" is just as scary a word as "amputation" is, if they were going for the scare factor in this poster!

Anonymous said...

Well, diabetes doesn't cause gangrene, it can cause nerve damage, which can lead to one not noticing a sore from a tight shoe. If left untreated, this sore can become infected and can lead to gangrene.