The interpreting profession is full of wonderful stories, however,  sometimes things don't go as planned. Negative results can arise when someone isn't provided with access to a qualified interpreter or if the interpreter makes a mistake. While it's very unfortunate when bad things happen, we must learn from them in order to prevent such occurrences from happening in the future

Here are some examples:

1.)  A deaf man from Texas was refused repeated requests for an interpreter by a hospital. The hospital attempted to facilitate communication by writing notes, but the man felt uncomfortable with this method due to the IV in his arm and his inability to understand written notes. Shortly after being discharged from the hospital, the man died.

2.) Jose Luis Mendez was originally sentenced to 60 years in prison for rape, attempted murder, aggravated residential burglary and aggravated assault. Mendez's conviction was based in part on his own statement in Spanish that he committed the crimes with which he was charged. However, Mendez's statement was translated twice. Once by the prosecution and once by the defense. The prosecution's version indicated that Mendez admitted to the crimes. The defense's version, however, indicated that Mendez denied being involved. The judge allowed both versions as evidence, but left it up to the jury to decide which version was credible. The conviction was eventually overturned by a higher court.

3.) Eighteen year old Willie Ramirez was in a coma when he was admitted to a Florida hospital in 1980. A misinterpretation of the Spanish word "intoxicado" caused Willie to be misdiagnosed as being overdosed on drugs. As a result, Willie's real diagnosis, an intracerebral hemorrhage, was overlooked and his treatment was delayed, thus leaving him quadriplegic. This grave error resulted in the hospital providing Willie with a settlement of $71 million.