When the Patient Gets Lost in Translation

Elaine Scarry discusses the problems that arise when one is attempting to describe his or her pain to another. She claims that language lacks the proper vocabulary to adequately express pain and describe its nuances and various manifestations. This fact becomes even more complicated when we introduce the issue of language barriers. This article describes the experience of Pauline W. Chen, an English-speaking doctor who treated a Spanish-speaking patient, Armando. After performing a liver transplant on Armando, Chen describes her difficulty in interpreting Armando's descriptions of pain, and she explains how she knew the physical Armando better than the "mental" Armando. If Scarry is correct, Dr. Chen has a hard enough time treating the pain of English-speaking patients, so treating Armando's pain is next to impossible. Surprisingly, however, Dr. Chen, along with many other doctors, fail to retrieve an interpretor for their consultations, deciding that consideration for the patient is outweighed by time constraints. Additionally, interpretor services are not always available, due to limited staff and budget constraints. The article describes a patient's basic need to communicate with his or her doctor, as well as the doctor's duty to consider patient input in his or her treatment plan. The situation described in this article represents the Western ideology behind professional medical care; that is, the body can be treated without any consideration for the "mind."