I was sitting in a meeting of physicians in training (resident physician) where an attending came in and said that surveys being taken for research were causing the institution to get bad reviews. Her reasoning was that the residents did not speak strong enough English to understand the survey. Now most of these residents are training here on visas and will be dispersing into other under served communities in order to keep their visas. Now, there are American citizens who attend foreign medical schools who can't get residency positions despite their parents paying taxes and yet these residents are getting the positions and can't even speak English. Then to top it off, I have a classmate who defends them and says its not their responsibility to know the language (obviously she was not born in the US).

Am I wrong in assuming that you should be able to speak the language in order to practice medicine? Should you expect your doctor to understand complex language skills since medicine uses complex language? This is a serious question that I am ashamed has to be asked. The US has completely lost touch with reality. Healthcare reform without tort reform? Illegal citizens being able to file medical malpractice and given legal standing? People getting residency training without even being able to speak proper English?