CHIA'S Ethical Decision-Making Process for Medical Interpreters IN ACTION (Scenario 2) FULL VERSION

[@ahomeschoolstoryangela5367]

This is very well done, thank you! I am currently teaching an introductory class on interpreting, and the question of "language you yourself would feel uncomfortable using" has come up more than once from my kids. I have been working on how to best help them work through the solutions they might find in any given situation, and you have excellent steps to do that very thing.

[@KellyGrzechHenriquez]

I'm so glad you found it helpful! To be fair, all the credit goes to CHIA for their decision-making process 😅

[@ohoudjoudeh5310]

Thank you Kelly, that is a great detailed explination that can be applied to all ethical scenarios. However, I have a question, you mentioned that if we chose action 3 in which we give the patient a chance to reconsider what they are saying and reminded them that we are obligated to interpret everything, you mentioned that we can or can't interpret what the patient said which depends on the situation. However, for the sake of the test, if a similar question was asked and one option was only to remind the patient that we have to interpret and the other option was to remind them and then interpret. Do we chose the second option which is remind and interpret? Hope my question is not confusing.Thank you again ❤️

[@KellyGrzechHenriquez]

You're very welcome, Ohoud! I would say that the best thing to do in response to your question would be to go back through step 4 of the ethical decision-making process and examine the option you mentioned. I would say the biggest difference between: 1. Remind the patient that you must interpret everything. Don’t interpret what they said… this time. 2. Remind the patient that you must interpret everything, then interpret what they said. Aside from accuracy, would be that of respect. It really all depends on how the situation plays out. On the one hand (1), the patient might feel *disrespected* that you're verifying what they said, as if you're assuming they didn't understand your pre-session or listen to it. But on the other hand, you *are* giving them a choice (autonomy, part of respect) in case they didn't listen to or understand the full implications of your pre-session (something that, in my experience, happens with many patients and providers alike). In terms of the provider in #1, you're being disrespectful in that you're not being transparent, but on the other hand you're being respectful in the sense that you're attempting to shield the provider from profanity (in a way). If you think about it, we kind of explored option #2 towards the end of the video when I talked about adding an interjection to make it more effective. I mentioned that you could potentially preface your interpretation of the profanity with it, or if your interpretation of the profanity is ill-received, you could then interject with the reminder that you have to interpret everything. Though, if you think about it, the option says "remind the PATIENT that you must interpret everything." If you assume you're going to interpret this to the provider and be transparent, great. But otherwise, if you're not interpreting that interjection for the provider, you're not being transparent, and therefore being disrespectful to the provider (and even more inaccurate/incomplete). This is a big reason I'm not a fan of multiple choice questions for ethics (like you mentioned if you were taking a test and these were offered as possible responses). There are SO many variables to take into account and in my experience questions tend to be incredibly vague, making it difficult to make an informed choice AND doing a poor job at representing real-life scenarios. If I were given the options you mentioned in your comment, I would likely choose to just interpret what is said. That being said, if the provider reacts negatively like the provider did in this situation, I would interject like I mentioned at the end. I likely wouldn't pre-emptively interject before interpreting the profanity UNLESS I was aware that 1) the provider would likely be terribly offended by the profanity OR 2) it was made clear to me that the patient/provider did NOT understand/get my pre-session in which I mentioned I would interpret everything. Apologies for the long response, but ethics is rarely as clear-cut as many would make it seem! Real life gets messy and just when we think something would never happen, reality always pops out to surprise us!

[@ohoudjoudeh5310]

@@KellyGrzechHenriquez Thank you Kelly for such a detailed explanation. That answers my question and even gives extra key points to consider in answering test questions and reacting to real life scenarios. Thanks again, very much appreciated.❤

[@sorayaducharme5017]

Can I tell the Dr. that the following message has profanity, and ask, if is ok to deliver the massage how it is, or if He/she prefers that I clean it up a little ?🤔🤔🤔🧐🧐

[@KellyGrzechHenriquez]

Soraya, you'd have to sort the ethical principles for that one and also think about possible outcomes. Keep in mind you have to interpret everything you say to the provider to the patient. Imagine how they might react if they found out you were asking if you could change their message? It might make them really upset. You're also not respecting the patient in the sense that you're not respecting their autonomy, their ability to make their own choices and choose to express what they're saying. Those are some of the drawbacks I thought of at first. What are some other risks and benefits that you can think of?