Translating any medical content badly can have very serious consequences. This happened in a celebrated case in the United States where a family described a family member as being “intoxicado” in Spanish. This word means in Spanish that you ate something like food, drink or drugs which made you unwell. The doctor when he heard this word immediately diagnosed the relative as suffering from a drug overdose. Read More

Medical device innovation and marketing is almost always an international phenomenon. A medical device that improves the detection of pressure sores, for example, may indeed have been developed in say Japan, but its usefulness, once tests have proved that it is safe and effective is global. Medical device translation is an extremely important part of any decision to sell medical devices on an international scale. The American caregiver, the Swedish nurse and Ghanaian doctor are all interested in using a new painkiller or antibiotic but would be reluctant to do so if the information and instructions accompanying these vital medical tools are in German. Read More