Our enforcement and prevention efforts are centered in a number of areas. Ensuring that people who are limited English proficient have meaningful access to health care is an important priority. Hospitals and other health care providers have a legal obligation to ensure that they can communicate meaningfully with all patients. Relying on the hospital janitor, the cafeteria worker, or the patient's relative is not sufficient. As a former prosecutor, I am comfortable in a courtroom setting.
Nobody questions a defendant's right to an interpreter in a courtroom proceeding.
If we provide interpreters when a person's liberty is at stake, then what about when a person's life is at stake at a hospital. Health care providers must do a better job of ensuring that they can communicate meaningfully with ALL patients. This is a legal requirement, and a moral imperative. If you are a health care provider and would like to learn more about how you can build an effective program of communicating with limited English proficient patients, please contact my office. We can help you and are more than willing to provide technical assistance.