New York Insurance

 Two years ago, Aida Torres febrile their daughter rushed to the emergency room. Doctors at the hospital in Brooklyn Torres tempted to say that her mentally retarded daughter, Madayeli necessary for an operation Ovarialzyste, but the fear of mother does not understand, because they do not speak English.

Frustrated and desperate, the natives of the Dominican Republic sought the help of a Spanish language hospital maintenance workers. He was not able to assist them, whatever; Torres finally asked a friend to leave work to interpret.

The coalition of immigration in New York and other groups in a report published this week on the availability of language on the city helps hospitals for non-English-language patients - a problem particularly urgent in a city, approximately 2 million people speak little or no English.

The report indicates that such assistance in hospitals appears to have evolved since 2006, as public health officials began regulating the communication between hospitals and non-English speaking patients, but needs to be done further, particularly in regard to languages like Korean, Haitian Creole, Russian, Arabic and Bengali.

For people who do not speak English, the language barrier, it is difficult for them to explain the symptoms, the doctors include “diagnoses and navigate the insurance system, said favorable. The barrier can lead to what misdiagnoses and even death, “she said. Poor amputations, sterilization and abortion have resulted from these barriers,” she said.

Forcing patients with hand gestures or relatives, friends or other patients to translate medical information may lead to a failure of understanding, violation of laws and privacy may traumatiserait, say, a transmission the child a parent, that parent has cancer.

“It is simply impossible, quality health care, unless patients can be symptoms, understand their informed consent diagnostic and medical procedures,” said Andrew Friedman, Co-Executive Director of Make the Road New York, the movement for civil rights organization, share in the report.

The report, titled “Now we’re Talking”, was established on the basis of polls conducted between October 2007 and February this year, 617 patients who speak Spanish or Korean, but not in English. Emphasized Officer that the study is not scientific and only provided a snapshot.

It showed that 79 percent of patients said they are helped in their mother tongue compared to 29 percent, said during a survey conducted before 2006, the provisions of the fact that the with hospital staff in their native language.

Before the rules under which private and public hospitals in the state to provide qualified interpreters, translate common forms of the hospital in the languages and patient care, it is important not to delay because the issues of language, was not uncommon for hospitals say no to English speaking patients of their own interpreters.

According to the new report, only 5 percent of patients is said, for their own interpreters.

“The hospitals have concrete steps and discovered how communication with Spanish speaking,” said Adam Gurvitch, director of the Coalition’s health advocacy.

But there is a real inequality “, when it comes to serve as spokesperson for hospitals in other languages, he said.

“There is some progress, but not close enough,” he said.

Nisha Agarwal, an employee of the New York lawyer, lawyers in the public interest, which for such patients, said language in hospitals appears to have improved since 2006 and they are not as many calls from patients.

Claire Pospíšil, a spokesman for public health authorities Department, said the Agency to work continuously to ensure that care language assumes that the New Yorker in hospitals.

She said the Agency to hospital use line receives more than 10000 calls per year, these calls, there were only 20 complaints about language translation in 2006 and 10 last year.