Editor’s Note: The November-December issue of Health Affairs contains essays by a physician and a medical interpreter on the challenges and perils of navigating language gaps between medical providers and patients in the absence of a trained medical interpreter. The essays appear in the journal’s “Narrative Matters” section, which is supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
The post below by Gail Price-Wise explores the same themes as these “Narrative Matters” essays. Price-Wise sheds new light on the case of Willie Ramirez, one of the most well-known and tragic instances in which interpreting difficulties and cultural misunderstandings resulted in medical error.
On the evening of January 22nd, 1980, eighteen year old Willie Ramirez was out with a friend when he experienced a headache. He attributed it to the smell of gasoline in his friend’s car:
I tried to ignore it because I wanted to be with my friend, and it went away for a while. All of a sudden, I had a sharp pain. I grabbed the back of my head. I sat on the floor. It felt like someone was sticking a needle through my head. My friend helped me to my car. I knew I was going to my girlfriend’s house – it was closer than my house. I couldn’t see right. Everything looked like things were moving around. I tried to find back streets to find the shortest route. I passed her house, slammed on the brakes and turned around and parked. I stumbled out of the car. I fell against the fence.
