Extreme Edwards claim Vol 1

I wish I could find who pointed this out to me, but alas, I cannot.

From the NRO Corner:

Edwards told the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund in June, 2003:

[W]e need to stop differences in language and culture from interfering with good health care. I'd start with a National Medical Translation System. That means an effective, in-person translation system at every hospital in the biggest cities. For smaller cities and rural hospitals, we need a National Medical Translation Center—24 hours a day, 7 days a week, translators on call. To make this work, it'll take new incentives for doctors and nurses to become translators.

Why all this interest in translation mandates by a trial lawyer? Professional translators make mistakes. According to the January 2003 Pediatics study, “Errors in Medical Interpretation,” [warning: PDF file], 53% of the translations by professional interpreters contain at least one error “with potential clinical consequences.”

Every translation error by a hospital-paid employee can become grounds for a costly lawsuit -- something unlikely to happen if the “translator” is also a friend or family member.

Who really thinks (other than this guy) that Edwards wants a translator present in hospitals so more lawsuits can occur, rather than, oh, I don't know, better medical service? If this was his intention, wouldn't he call for an ineffecitve translation system in hospitals? Why would he frame it in terms of a good health care argument?

Sometimes it's tough not to insult people. This is the exact reason I try and stay away from The Corner. Maybe I should go there more often to see if I can win Change For America's G-Mail contest.