Verba volant, scripta manent – And so do mistakes

Prosthetics: instructions for use

Now, let us venture into the realm of written translation: between 2006 and 2007, as many as 47 patients undergoing knee surgery in Berlin fell victim to a mistake.

Specifically, to a translation mistake that led to medical malpractice.

These patients had received knee prostheses; however, the German instructions available for the implantation did not reflect the original message.

The procedure required the addition of cement for the prothesis, although the translated message on the instruction label incorrectly stated: ‘prosthesis not requiring cement’.

The original text was written in English and not in German, and it correctly referred to a ‘non-modular‘ and ‘cemented‘ prosthesis, thus indicating a prosthesis that could not be modified and was to be cemented.

For over a year, doctors performed surgeries without realizing this critical omission, unaware of the mistake they had made.

This case vividly illustrates how a translation error, combined with negligence can have severe consequences, even in a field as sensitive as medicine.

Many of the patients involved later opted for new corrective surgeries and, this time, at the hospital’s expense.

Willie Ramirez: A Life Forever Changed

Willie Ramirez is perhaps the most well-known name in this field: his case is one of the most widely discussed examples of medical negligence caused by a mistranslation. A linguistic error forever changed the life of this young baseball athlete, leaving him quadriplegic at just eighteen years old.

It was January 22, 1980, when, after dinner, Willie lost consciousness. His Cuban family rushed him to the hospital, suspecting food poisoning.

At the emergency room, his relatives tried to explain what had happened, using the word “intoxicado,” which in Cuban Spanish usually refers to food poisoning.

However, due to both prejudice and a misinterpretation of the situation, the doctors translated the term as “intoxicated” and, without calling for an interpreter, proceeded with an incorrect treatment based on the assumption of a drug overdose.

As it turned out, Willie was actually suffering from a severe brain hemorrhage at the time.

For the first 36 hours, the signs of the hemorrhage were ignored, and by the time it was finally diagnosed, it was too late. Surgery was performed, but with significant delay. Willie Ramirez was left quadriplegic.

The story is told in the book An Intoxicating Error: Mistranslation, Medical Malpractice, and Prejudice by Gail Price-Wise, who interviewed Willie ten years after the incident. Here is Willie’s account:

“I think I went in and out of consciousness. I remember a white coat. I think they were slapping my face. They were yelling, ‘What did you take?! What did you take?!’

When I woke up, I didn’t know where I was. I had already had the surgery, but I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know I was in a hospital. I didn’t know I was quadriplegic.”

His athletic career in baseball was over—all because of linguistic misunderstandings and prejudice.

Even the doctor admitted that his initial assumption had been based on a bias prevalent in 1980s Miami toward lower-middle-class Hispanic individuals:

“I’ll be honest. When you see a young, comatose, Hispanic male, the first thing you think of is not a brain hemorrhage.”

The family later received a settlement of $71 million, but their lives were forever changed on that day in January.

Did you already know about these mistakes?

This is just the beginning. Stay tuned for more insights into the fascinating world of translation.

In the next article, we’ll discuss marketing, translation, and localization.

Curious about what’s coming next? Check our LinkedIn and Instagram profiles for sneak peeks!