被忽略的醫療口譯
在此時疫情失控的紐約，醫院忙不過來，有的乾脆不等口譯員連上線（中文要等十多分鐘，一些罕用的亞洲語言可能要等一小時以上），需要口譯服務的病患恐因無法溝通而賠上性命。一名加護病房護士說：「除非是要取得家屬同意或告知病患過世，醫院已經不打電話了。」
摘：
// An ICU nurse in a third Brooklyn hospital said that at her facility, when she needs an interpreter, she calls an operator through a big, blue corded phone installed in each room. Then she sits on hold until an interpreter becomes available. The wait time depends on the language. Spanish is relatively fast, she said; Mandarin takes 10 or 15 minutes; some uncommon Asian dialects take over an hour.
Now that visitors are forbidden, the nurse worries, patients are left without advocates, and the family is kept out of the loop. “At this point,” she said, “we’re not going to call unless we need consent or they die.” //
其實全球應該有很多合格的口譯員在家待業或暫時沒事做，看到此文報導醫院為圖方便相對忽略英語能力有限病患的治療，令人心寒。我知道美國法律對國民的語言平等權有所保障，等疫情風暴過去，也許會有相關的官司出現。
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