Long before he began studying for a career in health care, Marlon Munoz performed one of the most sensitive roles in the field: delivering diagnoses to patients.
As an informal interpreter between English-speaking doctors and his Spanish-speaking family and friends, Munoz knew well the burden that comes with the job. He still becomes emotional when he remembers having to tell his wife, Aibi Perez, she had breast cancer.
A few days after Perez underwent a routine breast biopsy 17 years ago, Munoz received an unexpected call from her physician. The doctor spoke no Spanish and Perez spoke little English, so they called Munoz, who could act as a go-between. But when the doctor said the biopsy had revealed stage 1 breast cancer, Munoz hedged.
[For more on this story by SHEILA MULROONEY ELDRED, go to https://www.npr.org/sections/h...s-struggle-to-unders]
Comments (1)