From Dictionary.com: A malady induced inadvertently by a physician or surgeon or by medical treatment or diagnostic procedures.

Wikipedia.com – Iatrogenesis They make it a bit clearer that it could be just about anything caused by a doctor.

I’ve got to say… seems like a doctor or a committee of doctors must have come up with this word.   I think if the word rolled off the tongue or was easier to say you’d year it more.   Iatrogenic?   I’ll be lucky if I remember it 5 minutes from now.

“oh, this broken arm?  It’s iatrogenic.”    yeah right.  I don’t think you’ll be hearing that.    More likely you’ll hear…   “oh, this broken arm?  It was just a side effect of the medication my doctor gave me for hemorrhoids which also happens to weaken the bones.  Oh yeah,  I knew about the potential.  I signed a some legal document saying that I had read the 4 pages of fine print listing the potential side effects of the medication.   When I looked later it was buried in page 3.”  Hmmm… Side effect.  Side effect is somehow very passive… as if it really isn’t anyone’s fault.

another passive synonym:  medical complication

Okay, yes I understand that things do happen and all…  but do we really have to be so PC about everything?  Gee giminee.   Sometimes the PC side effects of our countries desire to sue everyone’s ass off is really annoying.   Hmm..  There’s a fun usage.  Let’s see:

The American tendency to state everything in a politically correct and  inoffensive manner is surely an iatrogenic result of the over use of the  legal system to increase the wealth of  ‘victims’.

More active synonym:  My doctor did a crap job.    Effective, but a little unforgiving.

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well okay, apparently it’s from a Greek word…  I guess that committee of doctors is off the hook.