Medical translations?

[r3dh3d]

We're planning to go overseas on holiday with the mutant offspring. Just to France, but all the same I live in dread of what will happen if DD1 falls ill while we are there - it usually takes me about an hour to give a full medical history to a new consultant, the thought of doing it in French fills me with dread.

So I've written up a brief medical history, with a view to getting it translated. Then they could just ask specific questions where they need more info. I'm sure I once saw a site where they did this sort of thing for free - some charity did free medical translations for children with medical conditions. But now I can't find it anywhere on the web so am starting to think I imagined it. I've asked Contact a Family (just cos they deal with all sorts of rare disorders so may have been asked this before) but they had no idea. Actually, they told me to try babelfish which I did for a laugh. It was quite funny, but I don't think it would be much use in a medical emergency.

Anyone got any other ideas? If not, there are a host of medical translation companies on the net who would be happy to charge me money for this.

Hi, we travel alot with our ds2 who has profound and multiple dissabilites. We have a booklet that has everything about him, from his condition, to his consultants, his likes, how he is fed, what feeding and sats machines are used, that he has 150+seizures a day and doesnt need sedating etc. we carry this with harry everywhere,even in England. Sorry, my point was that we had this translated in French, german, spanish and greek. The french, spanish and german were very kindly done by ds1 school teacher. We also have a letter off Harrys consultant which states who the consultant is, a brief description of the conditiion, how the condition affects him, what medication he is on, and that their is "no contra indication to harry undertaking any form of travel whether by road sea or air"

it also says that in the first instance, if medically possible to contact the consultant on his direct line prior to giving any treatment.This letter is very useful in airports when we are asked why we are carrying class a drugs, on the airplane when he is having seizures etc. Consultant just changes details that are needed every year and puts new date on it.

Dont know if this helps at all

why don't you ask a french mn'er .. frenchgirl springs to mind

ie start a thread asking if any native french speakers could help you translate it?

I have used \link{http://www.appliedlanguage.com%2Ffree_translation.shtml\this}

in the past to translate packaging instructions, not sure how hot it would be with medical terms.

How about contacting a college or school as a teacher may be able to help?

\link{http://www.appliedlanguage.com/free_translation.shtml\oops here}

If it's a medical translation you need to be sure it is done exactly right to avoid potential problems. You could try ProZ.com or LinguistFinder or GoTranslators. If you say what it is for, someone might be able to do it for free.

Hi Dizzy - yes, I guess what you have is similar to what I meant! Though I've just written up the story so far from a medical point of view - we are constantly getting new diagnoses so I don't think of her as having "one" condition with "one" consultant and the entire story usually has to come out before you get any sense from the docs. It's like pushing a button now; show me a doctor and I open my mouth and start... while my brain is planning dinner and wondering if I left the tumble dryer on.

I hadn't thought about all that other stuff, ie being allowed to carry meds, certifying her fit to travel etc - is that an issue generally with weirdy conditions, refractive seizures etc. or do you think that's specific to your ds? We haven't been overseas since she started the seizures - in fact, it was being overseas that caused the seizures :( so it's all a bit new.

Twiglett - I guess start a thread on bilingual/language or whatever the forum is called? I'll try that, thanks!

Hi R3DH3D.

I think the note for the medicines is specific to carrying any meds not just harrys. He has diazapam and midazalam which are generally not carried country to country on an everyday basis. Esp as the midazalam is in glass ampoules. i wanted the letter mainly because he has so many seizures, sometimes 30-40per day and i didnt want him ending up in some hospital where i didnt speak the language and him being sedated or something cos drs dont understand his condition. Dont worry about travelling abroad we have found it really easy, do you have insurance?