Medical Interpreters are an important part of the process of providing healthcare to limited English proficient families and individuals.  Without the assistance of a medical interpreter mistakes are made and customer/patient satisfaction is affected negatively.

A study published in the Journal of Pediatrics found that in 13 individual encounters 396 interpreter errors were made.  Of course we are speaking of untrained individuals serving as interpreters.  This figure represents 31 mistakes per encounter or session with a provider. The break down of errors are as follow;   52% omissions, this is when words or phrases are left out,  16% false fluency, interpreters used words or phrases that did not exist, 13% substitutions, words or phrases substituted had a different meaning, 8% additions, words that were not included in original dialog were added by interpreter, 10% editorializing, this is when person interpreting add their opinion.

This data is important because it demonstrates the kinds of mistakes that can occur when an untrained person is used as an interpreter.   This situtation can be potentially fatal, can injure a patient unecessarily, and can cost the healthcare provider millions in law suits.

In short, this demonstrates the value of a trained medical interpreter for both the patient and provider.  Medical interpreters saves lives, and money.