As a linguist trained in the analysis of written and spoken language, I got interested in the many ways in which modern societies’ institutions become communicatively relevant at the surface level of discourse. This holds as well for medical organizations and medical communication at large: What I take an interest in is the role of language in all kind of occurrences in which ideas of health and illness are talked into being: doctor-patient-interaction, medical talk among experts, everyday talk about sickness, hospital files and documents, health education in the mass media, physical examinations and the dealing with health and sickness within texts and literature.