The clinic had my 12 year old translate my mother's appointment. Is that allowed, and can we ask for a real interpreter?

Not my appointment, my mother's, and I could not go because of work. She took my daughter, who is 12, because she always does.

It was about a lump in her breast and whether she needs a biopsy. My mother speaks Spanish and some English but not doctor English. My daughter came home very quiet and when I asked what the doctor said she started crying and said she did not know some of the words so she said "it is probably fine" to her grandmother. My mother now thinks it is fine. I do not know what the doctor actually said.

Nobody at the clinic offered anything else. I think they just saw a kid who spoke English and were relieved. Is that allowed? My mother does not have insurance, she pays on the sliding scale. Does she even have a right to an interpreter if she is not insured?

My dad's clinic uses a phone line with an interpreter. Takes a minute to connect and then it is a real person. Ask them for that.

That poor girl. And your poor mother. Please call the clinic and ask what the doctor wrote, it will be in the notes.

Luz, first the medicine, because it is the part that cannot wait. Please call the clinic tomorrow and ask for a follow up conversation for your mother with a qualified interpreter, by phone or video if that is what they have, specifically to go over the result of that visit and whether a biopsy was recommended. I cannot tell you what the doctor said or what it means. The point is that nobody in your family knows yet, and with a breast lump that question deserves an exact answer, not a twelve year old's best guess.

On the rule. A health center or hospital that receives federal funding is covered by Section 1557, and its regulation says language help for a patient with limited English has to be free, accurate and timely. The provider may not rely on a minor child to interpret, except briefly in an emergency while it finds a qualified interpreter. Insurance has nothing to do with it; the obligation is on the provider, so it applies on the sliding scale exactly as it does with a card. Delia has just written it up in detail in medical interpreters in Texas, including a short script for asking when you book.

Clinically, I will say what I tell my own staff. Children soften bad news. Adults do too. The interpreter's job is to carry the words exactly, including the ones nobody wants to say, and that is why we use one even when a relative is in the room. If your mother needs further tests and cost is the worry, breast and cervical cancer services covers the state program for screening and diagnosis, and whether she qualifies is for HHSC, not me.

Thank you, Doctor. I called before I even finished reading your post. They are calling me back tomorrow to book.

Update. They called back and booked my mother for Monday with a video interpreter, and the nurse apologized, which I did not expect. The note from the first visit says the doctor wants an ultrasound and possibly a biopsy, which is not "probably fine". I am taking the day off to go with her, as her daughter, not as her interpreter.

I also told my daughter she did nothing wrong. She was asked to do a grown up's job.