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New York City Medical Malpractice Lawyer Explains Silent Hazard: Translators in Hospitals

New York City Medical Malpractice News - Long Island, New York (NewYorkInjuryNews.com) — Many non-English speaking patients go to the hospital expecting to need family members or friend to translate their complaints, medical history and symptoms for English speaking doctors and nurses. Indeed, at many hospitals within the five boroughs, patients’ providing their own translation for medical staffs has become routine. Of course, not having a translator present during medical treatment poses great dangers to patients, and impacts the quality of healthcare, especially in an emergency room setting where doctors are likely to have never seen a particular patient before, and thus unfamiliar with that patient’s medical history and complaints.

It is for this reason that New York law mandates that hospitals provide translators for all “non-English speaking groups comprising more than one percent of the total hospital service area population.” These protections extend to undocumented residents as well. Few patients know or are told that this is the law. However, hospital translators are often overworked and in short supply.

If medical care produces a bad result, with a patient worse off than before they saw a doctor and the bad result is caused by negligence or by what the law calls “medical malpractice”, you can sue and obtain money damages for your injuries. Unfortunately, a hospital’s failure to provide a translator for its non-English speaking patients is a potential setting for medical malpractice.

Here is a real-life story of an expectant mother, close to her due date, who desperately tried to explain to emergency room doctors of the difficulties she experienced in her first pregnancy and delivery. Over the course of several long hours, the mother repeated her medical history several times, and reported her complaints of abdominal pain, but the available hospital staff simply did not understand her native language. Ultimately, the hospital performed a cesarean section delivery, but the baby was harmed by the delay in doing this. Had the hospital staff retained an available translator that was able to obtain a prompt, complete medical history from the patient, the baby would have been delivered timely enough to avoid permanent brain damage.

Before you or someone you know goes to the hospital, make sure there is a hospital staffer that will be able to translate in the language you require. If it makes you more comfortable, bring someone along that you trust to translate. Some hospitals have procedures to handle patient complaints. If there is no one there to translate make sure you let the right person know, you could help avoid a medical disaster.

If you have questions related to this story or about another type of medical malpractice, complete the form below and our panel of prominent New York medical malpractice lawyers / attorneys will address your question in the next news article.

Contributor - Robert Sullivan is a leading Medical Malpractice Lawyer in New York City

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