A Hasselhoff is medical shorthand for a patient who turns up in casualty “with an injury with a bizarre explanation”, according to the latest edition of the British Medical Journal.
The slang was inspired by a freak injury the former Knight Rider actor suffered at London’s Sanderson hotel last year, when he hit his head on a glass shelf — or chandelier, according to some newspaper reports, while shaving and cut his arm. Other pop culture icons to lend their names to irreverent medical terminology include Jack Bauer, the protagonist of the US TV series 24, and Mini Me, Doctor Evil’s pint-sized clone from the Austin Powers films.
A Jack Bauer is a doctor who is “still up and working after 24 hours on the job”, while a Mini Me is a trainee or medical student who emulates their senior colleagues a bit too much but does not say a lot.
Perhaps the least complimentary term is reserved for patients: a Father Jack is a “confused, usually elderly patient whose constant high-pitched verbal ejaculation and attempts to get out of bed are responsible for insomnia on wards”.
