Definition: Given the Question and Answer pair, detect whether the answer is acceptable or not. Denote acceptable answer as "yes", otherwise denote as "no". An acceptable answer is consistent with the context in question, detailed, long, and uses general knowledge of English. Answers that are not definite and suggest a variety of options are not acceptable answers.
Input: Question: I sometimes see the term "critical but stable" in the news. It is often used to describe someone who has been very seriously injured. For example (15 December 2019): "[A police officer] said the man who had been shot was in a "critical but stable " condition in hospital." I understand that "critically ill" means that life is in danger. Similarly "stable" is the opposite. Quotes from www.lexico.com critically To an extreme degree with a risk of death. 'two critically wounded people died in hospital'. 'critically ill patients who were awaiting surgery' stable (of a patient or their medical condition) not deteriorating in health after an injury or operation. 'he is now in a stable condition in hospital' What does "critical but stable" really mean? 
Answer: Trying to find a meaning in these words by following a definition is the wrong approach, as critical but stable is a kind of euphemism. Much in the same way as the wording "according to circumstances" is, depending on how it's being said, either a polite way of saying: "I have no idea!", or "I'm not going to tell you!". Most certainly, every patient's condition is "according to circumstances" (whatever the circumstances may be!), so basically saying that is nothing but saying: "Bugger off!", only more polite, and less troubling for people who are emotinally involved. Because after all, if the situation is good according to circumstances, that's quite positive, is it not! Similarly, when you say "critical", then that means as much as "that doesn't look good, I expect the person may die". You do not say that to either relatives or in public. You do not say that to, or nearby, the patient (awake or unconcious) either. Never, not ever. The consequences of saying such a thing may be terrible. Thus, when you are saying such a thing, you add "but stable" which in reality means nothing more but "we're currently not desperately trying to stop this bleeding, and we're currently not reanimating". But still, although the word "stable" has absolutely no meaning in terms of "condition will not change" (or even "condition will not change to the worse"), and usually people know very well that it is a kind of "lie", it is still very much appeasing the perceived situation for people directly involved.

no