Rendering care to patients who came from different parts of the world gets a little bit tougher when there is a communication barrier. And we all know that communication is vital in the medical field. Professional medical translators allow patients to voice out their concerns while maintaining confidentiality. Patients have the right to air out their decisions on medical procedures that are needed in the period of confinement. And because all of this is a life and death scenario, there should be no room for mistakes in medical translation. These errors can possibly lead to a lawsuit, if not adequately addressed.

1. No Room for Mistakes

Even when a person with a medical background is present to translate a foreign patient’s concerns, a professional medical translator is imperative because wrong translation puts a patient’s life at risk. Imagine having the patient to agree to a specific procedure but ended up undergoing a different one because of faulty medical translation. Because medical translation cannot be translated word per word, the translator should have the ability to understand, interpret, and translate medical terminologies easily enough to be followed by the patient. Besides knowledge on the terminologies, a translator should be trained to adapt to different cultures and be able to convey their message without bumping into their cultural differences.

2. Your License Is at Risk

The number of people who travel to different countries continues to rise in number because of the accessibility and convenience of booking tickets and researching for places to visit. Moreover, a lot of people continue to travel abroad for work-related reasons. Because of this, foreign patients will always be present in different hospitals around the world, thus the need for medical interpreters continues to rise as well. Not having certified medical translators around can increase your chances of having medical errors and putting your licenses at risk. Even the tiniest bit of error can result in a massive lawsuit that can compromise the healthcare workers’ reputation, as well as the hospital’s.

3. Mandated by Law

In the United States, state laws vary, but healthcare organizations are required to provide language access to patients. Federal laws require to provide oral interpreters to Limited English Proficient (LEP) patients in the United States. This also applies to deaf and Hard of Hearing patients. Failure to provide medical translators to these patients may result in breaking the law and having to pay for penalties or imprisonment.