Simple English definitions for legal terms
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Prognosis: Prognosis means predicting what will happen to someone who is sick. Doctors use information about a person's illness to guess what might happen in the future. This guess is called a prognosis. It helps doctors and patients plan for what might happen next.
Definition: Prognosis (pronounced prog-noh-sis) is the process of predicting the likely outcome of a medical condition, such as a disease. It is also the forecast of such an outcome. This is different from diagnosis, which is the identification of a disease or condition.
Example 1: The doctor gave a positive prognosis for the patient's recovery from the flu.
Example 2: The prognosis for someone with advanced cancer may be poor.
Example 3: The prognosis for a broken bone is usually good if it is treated properly.
These examples illustrate how prognosis is used to predict the likely outcome of a medical condition. In example 1, the doctor is predicting that the patient will recover from the flu. In example 2, the prognosis is not good because the patient has advanced cancer. In example 3, the prognosis is good because the broken bone can be treated successfully.