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Language barriers could be obstacle to good care

Quality Improvement Monitor, April 21, 2005

A lack of translation services could endanger patients who do not speak English and could violate state and federal laws, according to an article in the April 21 New York Times.

Four New York City hospitals are at the center of a civil rights complaint filed April 21 with state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, the paper reported. St. Vincent's Staten Island Hospital, Flushing and Jamaica Hospital Medical Centers, and Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center are all cited in the compliant for failing to provide adequate translation services, the Times said.

A spokesperson for St. Vincent's would not comment to the Times on the individual complaints, citing privacy rules. But he did tell the paper that the hospital has made hiring bilingual employees a priority after meeting with immigrant groups.

The hospital obtained 17 interpreter credentials last year, the spokesperson told the paper.

Adam Gurvitch, director of health advocacy for the New York Immigration Coalition, which coordinated the efforts to document language barriers, said the civil rights complaint was a last resort and said the coalition believed it had "hit a wall," the newspaper said.

Spitzer's office said it was already investigating complaints about language barriers at the four hospitals.

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