Physicians might withdraw from Medicaid or accept only patients who speak English, said AMA Trustee John Nelson, MD, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Salt Lake City. We're being asked to communicate. If we say we can't do that, it puts us in a bad position. In addition to the cost, doctors worry that they could be accused of violating a patient's civil rights if they don't provide a translator. It could be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
Some physicians are also skeptical about the effectiveness of translator services.
Physicians who traditionally rely on a patient's bilingual family member to translate worry about how accurate outside translators are if they don't speak the patient's dialect. Paying for a translator doesn't guarantee the patient will understand the procedure, Dr. Nelson said. Several years ago he called a telephone translating service for a patient who spoke an Ethiopian language. He explained her condition and the surgery she would need. But when her brother, who spoke English and the native language, arrived, it became obvious the woman did not understand what the translator had said.