Comments on: Mistranslation and Misinterpretation, 12. Medical-legal Consequences https://briansteel.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/mistranslation-and-misinterpretation-12-medical-legal-consequences/ Fri, 11 Apr 2014 11:37:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Brian https://briansteel.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/mistranslation-and-misinterpretation-12-medical-legal-consequences/#comment-787 Fri, 11 Apr 2014 11:37:56 +0000 http://briansteel.wordpress.com/?p=295#comment-787 Thanks, Steve.
I am sure some readers will accept your invitation to follow up this aspect of the blog.
Brian

]]> By: Steve https://briansteel.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/mistranslation-and-misinterpretation-12-medical-legal-consequences/#comment-785 Fri, 11 Apr 2014 07:56:33 +0000 http://briansteel.wordpress.com/?p=295#comment-785 It’s great that interpreters are being made more widely available. But this account of the case in Florida is incorrect. Here’s the story:

http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2008/11/19/language-culture-and-medical-tragedy-the-case-of-willie-ramirez/

Most significant, neither the paramedics nor the boy were the source of the word “intoxicado”. A family friend who accompanied him to the hospital said it to the ER doctor, but clarified that he was a good boy and had not taken any drugs.

In my opinion, and I’m not a doctor, this doctor is the one most responsible for the victim’s condition, not the interpreter. As the fictitious TV doctor Gregory House used to say, “Patients lie”.

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