A medical condition caused by a physician, healthcare professional, or medical treatment is described as iatrogenic.
The word comes from Greek roots meaning “produced by a healer.” In modern medicine, iatrogenic describes an unintended condition, complication, injury, or illness that results from diagnosis, treatment, medication, surgery, or another healthcare intervention.
Examples can include a medication side effect, an infection acquired during treatment, or an organ injury caused by a procedure. The term does not automatically mean malpractice or negligence: an adverse outcome may be iatrogenic even when the clinician followed accepted medical practice and the risk was known.
Iatrogenic is also commonly confused with nosocomial, which specifically refers to an infection acquired in a healthcare setting. Another related term is idiopathic, meaning a condition whose cause is unknown. Thus, “iatrogenic” identifies a treatment-related cause, while “idiopathic” means no established cause has been found.