Jennifer Tillman

Currently, there is a gap in clinical ethics discussions regarding the responsibility of medical interpreters and their responsibility in attaining informed consent. The responsibility of the interpreter in a medical setting for Deaf persons, or those who are deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind, could easily become paternalistic. However, in many cases, Deaf persons may not experience diminished autonomy, but rather language barriers. This case study focuses on the responsibility of the interpreter for Deaf patients who primarily use American Sign Language to communicate in an emergency medical setting. This case study uses popular views of informed consent and identifies an additional way in which medical interpreters can help ensure that a patient is adequately informed to make decisions about their own health care through a relational autonomy approach. This case study expands the normative framework to include an account of relational autonomy. First, I identify barriers that obstruct informed consent. Second, I consider what types of interventions are problematically paternalistic. Third, I consider the interpreter’s role in making the conditions for informed consent possible. I argue that the expanded scope of moral responsibility for the medical interpreter can be used to support the disclosure and understanding requirements of informed consent through a shared cultural understanding and support the responsibility of the interpreter as understood as a complex system of social relationships that impact the decision-making process. Additionally, I argue that medical interpreters must aid the clinical team in better supporting patient's needs.