No, in general you will find this at a hospital but not necessarily a doctor's office. As noted it is burdensome due to the expense often being more than the doctor gets for seeing the patient.. There are telephone interpreters but they are very expensive - generally a hospital maintains several employees who can translate the most common languages in their areas and then use the phone service (OR RELATIVES, not a great practice) to translate.
Before I respond to your inquiry, I must state that we have not spoken, I have not reviewed the relevant documents and facts, and I do not represent you. Therefore, my discussion below is not a legal opinion, but is informational only. Finally, my discussion applies only to issues to which Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey or Federal law applies, unless otherwise specified.
That being said, if this were true, think of the large number of interpreters that every business would have to hire. Providing an interpreter is required BUT ONLY if it is not an undue burden. The expense of an interpreter is an undue burden for all but the largest medical providers. Using a publicly available translation website might be sufficient, but would create HIPAA issues. Furthermore, the problems inherent in using an interpreter can have deadly consequences in a health care setting. The patient needs to find a physician that speaks his/her language natively.
/Christopher E. Ezold/
