Costly Translation Mistakes In The Medical Industry
“Without translation, I would be limited to the borders of my own country. The translator is my most important ally. He introduces me to the world.” – Italo Calvino
Good translation has the power to quite literally change the world. Every day we communicate with words that could lose their true meaning if its translation was not accurate. The same amount of power exists with bad translation, sometimes even more. Losing the true meaning of a sentence due to poor translation is a heavy and deplorable lose. We can see ludicrous mishaps in translation happen to numerous brands and companies but when these mistakes happen in the medical industry they cross the fine line from humorous to dangerous.
In this article, we see some sobering examples of translations gone horribly wrong and what you can do to ensure this doesn’t happen to you!
Where Do They Go Wrong?!
Errors committed by medical interpreters average 31 per clinical encounter!
A recent study conducted by National Library Of Medicine derived that, errors committed by advertisement interpreters were more likely to be errors of potential medical issues than those committed by hospital interpreters themselves (77% vs 53%).
Most of the errors of clinical consequence included:
omitting questions regarding drug allergies
neglecting to mention instructions on the dose, frequency, and duration of antibiotics and rehydration fluids and
obstructing mothers from answering personal questions.
Most Common Errors in Medical Translation
Costly Translation Mistakes In the Medical Industry
Listed below are a few incidents in the field of medicine where translation cost patients and doctors a great deal:
Poor Francisco’s Kidneys
In 2010 Francisco, a Spanish-speaking man named Francisco was being operated upon in one of California’s hospitals. Unfortunately, the Patient Consent Form was not translated into Spanish. Due to his inability to communicate proficiently in English and the lack of any English-Spanish translators at the moment, he signed a document that declared his consent to have the wrong kidney removed. The surgeons proceeded to take out the good kidney and then realising their mistake, moved on to remove the diseased one, leaving poor Francisco with no kidneys at all.
This proves the vital importance of translating important medical documents, instructions, and consent forms.
Friends Can Help But Translators Can Help Better
Around 5 years ago, an elderly Macedonian woman called, Sandra was looking for help with a tumour on her vestibular nerve. Instead of a professional translator, she used the help of a friend during the first consultation. The friend told her that the tumour was cancerous when in fact it was not malignant at all. Later, during removal surgery the surgeon operating unintentionally injured Sandra’s nerve, resulting in palsy on one side of her face. Though the later consultations had an interpreter present, Sandra claimed that the risk of facial paralysis was not communicated to her adequately and she wouldn’t have undergone the surgery if it was clear that it was benign.
In the area of health law, “duty to warn” describes a physician’s responsibility to warn an identifiable third party of a potential serious threat of harm to their health.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
This places the onus of clearly conveying the risks, procedures, and other health-related matters on the physician and the hospital/CRO. Worth investing in a good certified translation agency wouldn’t you say?
Willie Ramirez And The Word That Cost $71 Million
Willie Ramirez, an 18-year-old boy was rushed to the hospital one day because of a splitting headache he developed that later rendered him unconscious. When he woke up in the hospital, he was paralysed for life due to a brain bleed.
It was later discovered that the haemorrhage should have been treatable but because of the panic, the Ramirez family did not have access to a Spanish translator. So, when they took Willie to the emergency room the doctors there believed that he was “intoxicado” and treated him for a drug overdose. After days of improper treatment, doctors finally discovered the haemorrhage but it was too late.
The hospital had the responsibility to provide a professional interpreter and failed to do so, leaving them liable for a settlement of nearly $71 million to pay for Willie’s healthcare for the rest of his life. Although the amount is a big number it is heart-breaking to see a young child’s entire life damaged because of one careless mistake.
One wrong word and 47 failed knee replacement surgeries!
A series of knee surgeries in Germany were completely botched because of a mistranslation. This case proves the point that one single word omitted can have costly repercussions. The crux of the case was brought out in The Journal of Specialised Translation:
“Two different types of that knee prosthesis are available — for use with or without cement. The source language label on the package of the prosthesis included the information that the femoral component was “non-modular cemented,” which was incorrectly translated as “non-cemented” or “without cement.”
The prosthesis elements had not been implanted in the correct manner as a consequence. They did not realise this for 12 months! One knee surgery and the recovery time needed for that is gruesome enough, the patients had to go through two of them. Not to mention the time and costs involved for the hospital.
This underlines the importance of accurately translating labels, instruction manuals, and even marketing materials.
When Two Vietnamese Children Had to Lift The Mantle Of Translation
Another unfortunate and distressing incident occurred due to improper communication between patients and healthcare professionals. A 9-year-old Vietnamese girl was asked to interpret for herself due to a lack of professional interpreters in the hospital until she collapsed as a result of a relapse of her prescriptions. Following this, her 16-year-old sibling took the mantle and tried to translate for his Vietnamese-speaking parents. Woefully, by the time the doctors and nurses could accurately diagnose the young girl, it was too late and she passed away.
Neglecting to employ a professional medical interpreter was the principal determinant that led to the young girl’s untimely death. Subsequently, the family filed a lawsuit against the hospital for medical malpractice and negligence and was awarded $200,000. But an innocent child’s life was lost.
The Importance of Finding A Good Translator
As globalisation spreads and the whole world slowly transforms into a global village, language barriers have increasingly become more prominent in daily communication and professional translators help bridge these gaps in communication.
One of the most significant fields in which translation thrives is the medical industry, here clear crisp communication can save a person’s life but can also equally endanger it when translation is unclear. There is an estimate of 20,000 medical terms, excluding the names of body parts, medicines and illnesses. This massive set of vocabulary along with the endless branches and specialisations within the life sciences field, plus the consistently growing advances, challenges the bravest, most qualified, and experienced translators.
Lack of proper interpretation will result in expensive fixes but the more jarring factor is the number of lives that are lost due to this daft ignorance.
ISO Certified Translation to Ensure Accuracy
As an ISO 17100 certified translation company that specialises in Clinical Trials, we are passionate about getting it right for our clients. With over a decade of experience in clinical trial translation and with over 2000 linguists, we have served clients from all over the world in more than 350 languages. Reach out to us and let’s get talking about how we can help you with your translation needs.