Medical Ethics Issue?
This is a discussion on Medical Ethics Issue? within the Other Healthcare Law Issues forum, part of the HEALTHCARE LAW & MALPRACTICE category; Hello, I am not sure if this is a medical ethics issue and also not sure how to pursue it, ...
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Hello,
I am not sure if this is a medical ethics issue and also not sure how to pursue it, so I will describe it and hope your advise helps us take the right measures. I live in Los Angeles with my family and my parents don't speak English so I usually accompany them at doctors appointments to interpret or make sure someone can go along with them to translate. Last Friday I made a appointment for my father with a Greek physician and I asked the office if the doctor could communicate in Greek so we know whether to have someone accompany my father to translate. They assured me that doctor spoke perfect/fluent Greek and when my parents got there, besides the doctor saying hello in Greek, she spoke and asked questions in English. My dad told her that he doesn't speak nor understand English and proceeded to explain his problem in Greek. She continued in English and asked him if he had any allergies to medications and my dad started listing the medications he was taking. My mom, who was in the room, told him that she thought the doctor was probably asking about allergies, and the doctor saw them struggle trying to understand what she was saying and never made an effort to say one word in Greek. The doctor then went out of the room and a nurse came in the room, asked my dad to sign a piece of paper, and then gave him a cortisone shot in the shoulder, without him knowing what was going on. The doctor also ordered x-rays, and she did all this without ever touching or examing my father, in other words, she never layed a hand on him. When my mother called me to inform me about the humiliating experience, I called back and asked to speak to the doctor and was informed she would call me back. I did express my disappointment to the secretary because she was the one that told me the doctor was fluent in Greek but I inquired why she never spoke in Greek to my parents, and that's when she told me the doctor would have to call me back and explain. The doctor never called me back even though I waited until today, which was when I called back and told them that I really needed to talk to them because I also needed to get my dad x-ray and MRI results so we'd know how to proceed. When the doctor got on the phone, she was extremely rude and defensive with me even though the questions I was asking her were in a very professional manner. She was screaming that she doesn't have to speak in Greek and since my parents didn't specifically ask her to speak in Greek then she didn't feel the need to, and when I asked her why her secretary told me she was fluent in Greek after I explained that my dad didn't speak English, she said that she didn't care what the secretary said but rather if I felt that he needed an interpreter then he should have had an interpreter with him. I also asked her why she gave him a cortisone shot and ordered tests without ever touching him and she just hung up on me. My family, including myself, were humiliated, disrespected, and in general this doctor's attitude was extremely unprofessional both with my parents and with me on the phone. What she did and what she said was unethical and expressed discrimination against someone who doesn't speak English. On top of that, she will have the audacity to send us a bill for everything, and, since we are cash patients because my parents can't afford insurance, she will not provide us with the usual cash patient discount that we usually get. How could this be acceptable? Are there any legal measures we can take that would actually bring matters to her attention by the medical board, or is this something so minor compared to other legal health issues that it would never even be looked at, let alone be brought to her attention. thank you so much for your help, and I am sorry for the lengthy message, |
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