One of the "perspectives" pieces published in the April 2015 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine highlights the importance of working to remove language barriers. The piece reviews a patient who was on duplicative medication because of a miscommunication due to a language barrier. Had this mistake not been caught, the patient would have received a permanent pacemaker when unnecessary.
“As physicians, we use information from conversations with the patient and family and combine it with evidence to come to a diagnosis and plan of care. Language barriers create situations with a higher risk of errors, both under-treatment and over-treatment. Removing language barriers and speaking with patients in their own language can help patients receive the care they need and equally importantly, not receive the treatments they do not need.”
