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<blockquote data-quote="Babagounj" data-source="post: 731527" data-attributes="member: 12952"><a href="http://azstarnet.com/article_11a21e8d-bb78-5450-839a-1cdf29125f03.html?mode=story" target="_blank">PHOENIX</a> – A Glendale optometrist’s yearlong&nbsp; legal fight over what services he had to provide for a Spanish-speaking&nbsp; customer has translated into new protections for other businesses.&nbsp;Gov. Jan Brewer has signed legislation affirming that nothing&nbsp; in state law requires businesses to provide “trained and competent”&nbsp; interpreters when a customer comes in speaking a language other than&nbsp; English.&nbsp;Schrolucke told lawmakers the incident stems from a patient who spoke&nbsp; only Spanish. Although she did bring her 12-year-old child with her to&nbsp; the office, he said allowing the child to interpret for the parent would&nbsp; have gotten him into legal trouble.&nbsp;He said he faced a potential malpractice lawsuit if the child did not&nbsp; properly translate some of the more technical explanations being&nbsp; provided, so he turned the woman away, telling her through her&nbsp; child to come back with someone at least 18 years old.&nbsp;Schrolucke said he also gave the woman the option of going to&nbsp; one or two other optometrists who speak Spanish.&nbsp;Instead, he said, the&nbsp; woman filed a discrimination complaint with the Attorney&nbsp; General’s Office.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Babagounj, post: 731527, member: 12952"] [URL="http://azstarnet.com/article_11a21e8d-bb78-5450-839a-1cdf29125f03.html?mode=story"]PHOENIX[/URL] – [B]A Glendale optometrist’s yearlong legal fight over what services he had to provide for a Spanish-speaking customer has translated into new protections for other businesses.[/B] [B]Gov. Jan Brewer has signed legislation affirming that nothing in state law requires businesses to provide “trained and competent” interpreters when a customer comes in speaking a language other than English.[/B] Schrolucke told lawmakers the incident stems from a patient who spoke only Spanish. Although she did bring her 12-year-old child with her to the office, he said allowing the child to interpret for the parent would have gotten him into legal trouble. He said he faced a potential malpractice lawsuit if the child did not properly translate some of the more technical explanations being provided, so he turned the woman away, [B]telling her through her child to come back with someone at least 18 years old.[/B] [B]Schrolucke said he also gave the woman the option of going to one or two other optometrists who speak Spanish.[/B] [B]Instead, he said, [COLOR=#FF0000]the woman filed a discrimination complaint [/COLOR]with the Attorney General’s Office.[/B] [/QUOTE]

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