Thread: A Controversial but Serious Question

Jeez, Trey - starting to reconsider your choice of profession? Illegals have standing in med. mal. suits? I didn't know that and it's RIDICULOUS!

Being able to communicate with a patient is absolutely vital to providing proper treatment. Having a translator is no where near an appropriate solution. You'd have to have a translator for doctor, in each language, in each ward, of each hospital. And don't forget what Trey is discussing - residents! These are, forgive me Trey, doctors in training. Why should a hospital pay someone else so they can allow a resident to practice? It's absurd! These aren't top flight surgeons bringing in the big bucks, they are the guys on the front lines, usually serving in the higher pressure, time-sensitive areas of a hospital, such as emergency rooms. Let's play this out with a translator:

A patient comes in with an non-obvious condition and the doctor is asking questions, which are translated by whom, a non-MD translator? Sure, why not! But the patient is in pain and doesn't understand and the translator says that to the resident, who asks the same question a different way, which is translated, answered, translated. Then another attending resident who speaks a THIRD language comes in to assist, asks for an update and that question is translated to the first translator, then translated again to the other resident, who answers, gets translated twice, and finally 2 residents are on the same page for ONE QUESTION. And after, what, 10 questions we're starting to get some basic info on the patient... To top it off, who is gonna write up the patient's sheet? In what language? Who's gonna translate that?

And forget about surgery - 10 people in a room and nobody knows who's saying what... What a mess! At this rate your best bet is being a plaintiff's attorney in a med. mal. practice. Then again, who would you be suing? Immigrant first-year residents who still haven't paid off med school? I think I'll tattoo my DNR on my chest....