Professional Medical Interpreters are Life Saving

Proper communication is essential, particularly during emergency medical situations, but imagine how complicated it may be if you did not speak the language. More than 25 million Americans do not speak English. A patient who can’t describe symptoms or understand the doctor’s recommendations can easily become the victim of a mistake. However, in many states, interpreter services are not reimbursable. If there is no financing to support the usage of qualified translator services, many health caregivers count on household members (regularly kids) to understand during medical appointments. Untrained interpreters don’t have a medical background and can have difficulties understanding what the physician is saying causing difficulty translating. Medical mistakes including improper medication use, insufficient consent, and performing the incorrect procedure, could be a consequence of low quality translation.

Most healthcare facilities have policies in place that stop the use of bilingual personnel and household members as interpreters. However, in truth most healthcare providers ignore these rules for worries that the patient could be endangered by the delay in waiting for an interpreter. The precise impact of poor quality translator services is not known because non-English speakers aren't likely to complain about small medical mistakes, however, some new reports demonstrate a higher readmission rate among non-English speaking patients. Additional reports show that patient care improves drastically with the use of professionally qualified interpreters.

The Office of Budget and Management estimated that translator services cost over $98 million annually in the US. Those expenses often mean that the physician loses money on every interaction with a patient that requires a professional interpreter. However, the cost of not having an interpreter could be also bigger by causing a lawsuit or evoking the individual avoidable harm. The utilization of professional medical interpreters might cost less in the long run and avoid translation malpractice lawsuits.

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