Immigrants Lash Out At Hospitals

Immigrant groups accused four private hospitals, including two in Queens, for violating the civil rights of non-English speaking patients at an angry protest last week.
Immediately following the demonstration, where immigrants gave testimonials about the lack of translation services at Jamaica and Flushing Hospitals, immigrant advocates said they filed a civil rights complaint with Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s office.
Public and private hospitals are required by federal and state law to provide interpretive services for non-English speaking patients, but immigrant groups said many hospitals fall short.
“Private hospitals have been very slow to respond to this issue,” said Margaret McHugh, director of the New York Immigration Coalition. “There have been amputations, sterilizations and even death in some cases. Hospitals haven’t taken common sense steps.”
The Latin American Integration Center (LAIC) and Korean Community Services (KCS), two Queens-based groups who have surveyed immigrant patients, said Flushing and Jamaica Hospitals – both run by the same private company – were some of the worst examples.
“We found there to be a total lack of commitment and a total lack of seriousness,” said Ana Maria Archila, director of LAIC.
Hank Sheinkopf, a spokesman for Flushing and Jamaica Hospitals, said the hospital was doing its best to provide interpretation to the non-English speaking patients that make up a large portion of the one million patients it serves annually.
“We have complied at great financial cost with all federal guidelines,” said Sheinkopf, adding that they were working to respond to feedback from community groups like Korean Community Services.
“We’ve met constantly with community-based groups,” he said. “We’re always perfecting what we do, always improving what we have in place.”
Park confirmed that after several meetings during the past year with the administration at Flushing and Jamaica, improvements had been made. “They started to cooperate this year, after we filed the complaint.”
Immigrants who testified at the protest in front of the offices of the Greater New York Hospital Association, a lobbying group, said a lack of interpreters meant they couldn’t understand their diagnosis or the doctor’s instructions. In some cases speakers said they were forced to ask strangers to help them interpret what a doctor or nurse was saying.
Marcia Sanchez, a member of the Brooklyn-based group, Make the Road By Walking, said that Jamaica Hospital had failed to provide Spanish-speaking interpreters on several occasions when she went for an MRI and X-ray.
“We have to communicate with signs and gestures. Often I feel confused about what they are trying to communicate to me. I simply have to guess what I’m supposed to do,” said Sanchez. “I always feel insecure and uncertain.”
said that in surveys of Korean immigrants who visited Flushing Hospital, that 90 percent said they never received information in their language, that 73 percent said they weren’t informed of their right to translation, and that 80 percent said they felt confused during their visit.
“There’s no system in place,” said Jinny Park of KCS. “It’s not acceptable that Flushing Hospital in the heart of the Korean community is not providing Korean translation.”
Sarah Garland is a freelance writer.
toni@queenscourier.com