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ProEnglish & Physicians Ask Court for Preliminary Injunction Barring HHS Mandatory Translation Rules

ProEnglish
News Release
September 22, 2004

(Arlington, VA) ProEnglish, a national organization that advocates making English the nation's official language, announced today that its attorneys had asked a federal judge to issue a preliminary injunction in its lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) mandatory translation rules. Citing irreparable harm to the plaintiffs if the rules continue to be enforced, attorneys from the Pacific Legal Foundation filed the plaintiffs' motion with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California late yesterday. The injunction would stop HHS from enforcing its policy pending a final resolution of the lawsuit that ProEnglish, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), and five individual physicians filed on August 30.

HHS issued its policy guidelines in August 2003 pursuant to Executive Order 13166 (E.O. 13166), signed by President Clinton. The order says that recipients of federal funds - an enormous class that includes doctors participating in Medicaid or Medicare as well as almost every state and local government agency - who fail to provide free translation and interpreter services for their non-English speaking clients may be guilty of violating the ban on "national origin" discrimination in Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Law. President Bush subsequently reaffirmed the order despite strong objections from many affected groups including AAPS and the American Medical Association.

The plaintiffs charge the HHS policy violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the First Amendment to the Constitution and forces medical providers and others, without reimbursement, to communicate in a language they prefer not to, exposing them to liability under both federal law and malpractice claims.

ProEnglish Executive Director K.C. McAlpin said, "The HHS policy forces private doctors and health care providers to provide free translation services by threatening them with civil rights prosecution if they don't comply. This policy, which was never authorized by Congress, is a fundamental attack on our plaintiffs' First Amendment right to speak the language they choose, and practice medicine free from unwanted government interference. It must be found unconstitutional."

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