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A Full Investigation Is Underway After A Gynaecological Operation Was Carried Out By Mistake On An Asian Woman

1984 , Luton (Bedfordshire)

Cat no. 53266

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Report on a medical mix-up apparently due to a language problem – are more interpreters needed?

Anglia Television reporter Marcus Powell stands outside the Luton and Dunstable Hospital where patients and visitors come and go. It is claimed that an Asian woman who could not speak or understand English attended the out-patients department for a minor skin complaint. By mistake, because she shared a name with another patient, she was taken for a gynaecological operation which she did not want or need. The reporter displays a newspaper headline in the Luton News: ‘Language problems blamed for op. mix-up’. The hospital administrators refuse to discuss the case. The hospital has a full-time interpreter, and the Community Health Council has called for more, but the District Health Authority have said this does not have the highest priority. Medical records clerks have been reminded to check the names, birth dates and addresses of all patients. This video was made to be shown in a news story on Anglia Television early evening news / magazine programme About Anglia.

Keywords

Hospitals; Medical operations; Languages; Interpreters

Manifestations

A Full Investigation Is Underway After A Gynaecological Operation Was Carried Out By Mistake On An Asian Woman

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