Re: A rant and a poll

From: Dr Eberhard Lisse (el@lisse.NA)
Sun May 21 00:23:55 2006

Anna,

on 5/20/06 10:58 PM Meenan, Anna said the following: > We don't have patients translate for each other either, el. All my
> assistant did was to ask another patient who she knew to be a close
> associate of pt. #1 (they had come into the office together, all chummy,
> on other occasions) if she knew of a way to reach her by phone. She did
> not give pt#2 ANY other information as to why we needed to get ahold of
> #1. My assistant's reasoning was that pt#1 has potentially dangerous
> infection which needs to be treated, the weekend is coming up, and we
> are not back in outreach clinic til next Friday. We could have, I
> suppose, sent the info in the mail, but this young woman's address
> information is about as reliable as her phone contact info.

The point is, that #1 is right in worrying about #2.

> BTW, in this small town, any translator the patient might bring in with
> her is quite likely to be a patient of ours also. Then what, el?

The patient brings someone in, it's the patient's problem/choice.

> We
> are not permitted to require a patient to bring their own translator
> anyway (in this mean, awful, horrible country of ours that treats its
> minorities so poorly, we are required by law to provide translation at
> any medical encounter, and if we don't have a paid translator in the
> office, we can use the AT&T Language Line, where we can reach a
> translator for any language at the incredibly low low price of 6 bucks a
> MINUTE, or at least that was the going rate when I checked a few years
> ago.)

That's what I like so much about the US.

We have roughly 11 languages in this country (plus a bit of Portugese by Angolan visitors), and I speak two, refuse to speak another (Afrikaans) and know almost enough words and phrases from a fourth (Oshiwambo) to know when they are gossiping behind my back :-)-O.

It is a requirement for registration with the Medical Council to have sufficient command of the English language.

And, it's not a problem, we tell the patient or whoever makes the appointment (in English of Afrikaans) to bring a translator. She doesn't do it, she comes back with one.

el



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