The untold stories of medical interpreters: 

As a provider of medical interpretation, Monterey Language Services launched an initiative series to explore emotional and professional challenges that medical interpreters face. Please see our previous introduction to the series here.

How Was Everything Started and Created?

We reached out to quite a lot of CCHI certified medical interpreters who we admire. Even though not surprisingly the dedicated interpreters graciously shared their most heartfelt stories, we were amazed by how insightful and emotional depth issues were brought to us. We are genuinely moved by the stories.

In each video below, we picked some of the most awesome quotes (see description below) that blew us away. We believe this series is something sincere and original that comes straight from the deep down of the dedicated medical interpreters.

These videos are worth sharing. They are designed to raise awareness and appreciation of the essential elements that medical interpreters face every day. Please feel welcome to share them with your circles of networks.

The Series Will Be On-going

We feel that medical interpretation involves so many elements and there is always a heavy emotional toll that stays with us. To vent and to share is something meaningful and powerful to make us a better medical interpreter.

If you have stories to tell, please continue to share them with us and we will write original scripts and create videos to share with everyone!

Why We Created This Series

The idea behind this project was to honor the dedication, emotional strength, and cultural intelligence of medical interpreters. This series is not a textbook style of what a medical interpreter is all about. We wanted to share the professional and emotional stories that most people don’t often hear about.

Imagine standing in a room, listening to a doctor deliver life-altering news – a cancer diagnosis, a difficult prognosis, or the devastating reality of a loved one’s passing. This is the reality for medical interpreters. We are constantly exposed to human suffering, fear, and grief.

The video series dives deep into these less-talked-about challenges. You’ll hear directly from interpreters as we share our most poignant, sometimes frustrating, and even heartwarming experiences. You’ll gain a new appreciation for the incredible skill, empathy, and resilience required to do this vital work as medical interpreters!

The Video Series Includes:

1. Medical Interpreters Are Unsung Heroes
   Interpreters are the fragile bridge between fear and clarity; science and the human heart.
   https://youtu.be/F96UhMM4dxo
2. Vicarious Trauma
   An interpreter needs to explain to their family in their own language that their loved one’s neck CT scan showed a tumor, and the airway’s become compressed, making the need for a tracheostomy immediately necessary.
   https://youtu.be/mtEv8NEShZU
3. Emotional Roles
   A medical appointment isn’t just about tests or results; it’s about emotions.
   https://youtu.be/uwEd-QuWeLU
4. Cultural Bridges
   In the Middle East, never tell a patient bad news directly. They will call you cruel, ruthless, and culturally insensitive!
   https://youtu.be/9vBcyzMpjic
5. Body Language
   It’s not just about translating the words; it’s about reading the room!
   https://youtu.be/CoDmBd9HtRs
6. Palliative Care
   It’s like someone dimmed the harsh fluorescent lights and made space for us to breathe.
   https://youtu.be/IrC6b0WFzEU
7. Mastering Patience
   Everyone has a story and understanding is the key!
   https://youtu.be/GNaUkZc4EKY
8. Subconscious Vicarious Trauma
   Let’s talk about something that most interpreters don’t get trained for!
   https://youtu.be/ItqtznXgNRo
9. Not Knowing
   Peace doesn’t always come from knowing. Sometimes, it comes from letting go.
   https://youtu.be/-1gIPcH1GsQ
10. Interpreting Grief
    The most powerful thing to do is to feel. When you honor your emotions, you are more equipped to serve others.
    Link: https://youtu.be/BoEcPFVeEnY
11. On Interpreting Life and Death
    In knowing death, I honor life as a medical interpreter.
    Link: https://youtu.be/Tgw6bgKtqEg
12. Small Kindness
    If we fully accept that life is short, what can we do differently?
    Link: https://youtu.be/XPBTiwBPOqU

There are situations including patients having tubes hooked up which they rely on to keep breathing because they can’t do so by themselves anymore.

So, let’s explore these three distinct paths: 1) allowing a natural death; 2) opting for assisted death (where legal); 3) pursuing treatment for as long as medically possible. Each path carries its own set of potential benefits and drawbacks.

Embracing the Natural Course: Finding Peace in Letting Go

Choosing to allow a natural death often centers on prioritizing comfort and quality of remaining time over aggressive interventions.

Pros:

• Focus on Comfort and Dignity: The emphasis shifts from medical procedures to managing pain and symptoms, allowing the patient to spend their final days in a more peaceful and familiar environment, surrounded by loved ones.
• Avoiding Invasive Procedures: This path spares the patient from potentially painful and burdensome treatments that may offer little to no extension of life.
• Honoring the Natural Process: For some, there’s a profound sense of acceptance in allowing the body’s natural processes to take their course, viewing it as a more dignified and less artificial end.
• Time for Connection and Closure: Without the demands of constant treatment, there can be more quality time for emotional connection, reflection, and saying goodbye.

Cons:

• Potential for Unmanaged Symptoms: Without active treatment, pain and other distressing symptoms may not be adequately controlled, leading to discomfort and suffering if not managed with palliative care.
• Emotional Distress for Loved Ones: Watching a loved one decline naturally can be emotionally challenging, and families may struggle with feelings of helplessness.
• Uncertainty of Timeline: The exact timing of death can be unpredictable, which can make planning and emotional preparation difficult.

Assisted Death: Empowering Choice and Control

Assisted death, currently legal in a limited number of jurisdictions, involves a terminally ill, mentally competent adult voluntarily requesting and receiving medication to end their life peacefully.

Pros:

• Autonomy and Control: This option provides the patient with a sense of control over the timing and manner of their death, potentially alleviating fear and anxiety associated with a prolonged and uncontrolled dying process.
• Reduced Suffering: For individuals experiencing unbearable and unrelieved suffering, assisted death can offer a way to end their pain and distress on their own terms.
• Peace of Mind: Knowing this option is available can provide a sense of peace and empowerment, even if the patient ultimately chooses not to use it.

Cons:

• Ethical and Moral Concerns: Assisted death raises significant ethical and moral questions for individuals, healthcare providers, and society as a whole, often conflicting with religious or personal beliefs about the sanctity of life.
• Potential for Abuse and Coercion: Safeguards are crucial to ensure the patient’s decision is fully voluntary and not influenced by coercion or pressure from others.
• Impact on Healthcare Professionals: Participating in assisted death can be emotionally and morally challenging for healthcare providers, potentially leading to moral distress.
• Slippery Slope Arguments: Some worry that legalizing assisted death could lead to its expansion to individuals who are not terminally ill or who are vulnerable.

Pursuing Treatment: Hope and the Fight for More Time

Continuing treatment for as long as possible reflects a desire to fight the illness and extend life, often fueled by hope and a determination to not give up.

Pros:

• Potential for Remission or Cure (Rare): In some cases, ongoing treatment, especially with advancements in medicine, may lead to unexpected remission or even a cure, although this is less likely in advanced terminal illness.
• Buying More Time: Treatment can potentially prolong life, allowing for more time with loved ones, to achieve personal goals, or to witness important events.
• Hope and a Sense of Fighting: Actively pursuing treatment can provide a sense of hope and purpose, empowering the patient to feel like they are actively fighting the disease.

Cons:

• Diminished Quality of Life: Aggressive treatments often come with significant side effects that can severely impact the patient’s quality of life, leading to increased pain, fatigue, and discomfort.
• Financial and Emotional Burden: Prolonged treatment can be incredibly expensive and emotionally draining for both the patient and their family.
• False Hope and Unrealistic Expectations: Continuing treatment when the prognosis is very poor can sometimes create false hope and prevent the patient and family from fully accepting the reality of the situation and focusing on quality time and end-of-life preparations.
• Potentially Isolating: The demands of constant medical appointments and treatments can isolate the patient from their usual social activities and support networks.

When facing a terminal illness, patients and their loved ones often grapple with complex choices about how that final chapter will unfold.

Imagine a situation where a patient’s tumor in their throat has grown to the point where it is making it difficult for them to breathe. Then there are possible options for them to choose:

-Their care and treatment can be stopped, allowing them to naturally pass away.

-They could begin more aggressive treatments in the hopes of becoming cured.

-They could opt for euthanasia to peacefully pass away.

It’s in these highly difficult situations that sometimes premature decisions are made. To end a life too soon, people may experience decision-related stress and cause trauma for family members.

Sometimes, even though people understand the chance of recovery through a long road of treatment, the family or patient may decide that they don’t want to live like that.

Learning how to maintain the balance between medical principles and how to end life isn’t easy for anyone.  You would be lucky if you have an experienced physician with the assistance of medical interpreters to facilitate communication to guide you and point you to a simple direction on every step of the way!