Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Absent Interpreter in Administrative Detention Center Medical Units

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Health Care Analysis Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The particular situation of the French administrative detention center (ADC) medical units appears to be an exemplary case to study the difficulties facing medical practice. Indeed, the starting point of our inquiry was an amazing observation that needed to be addressed and understood: why are professional interpreters so seldom requested in ADC medical units, where one would expect that they would be “naturally” present? Aiming to fully explore the meanings of the “absent interpreter”, this article takes into account the possible meanings of this situation: the recourse to professional interpreters in France is far from expected given cumulative evidence of its benefits; perceptions of illegal immigrants and medical habitus itself may both hamper the use of a third party; the ADCs are a very stressful place for healthcare professionals, with conflicting missions, political issues enmeshed with medical goals, and heavy affective burden that may lead to self-protection. Silencing voices of suffering others might be seen as the hidden indecent truth of the “absent interpreter”. These reflections open a window to a larger issue with regard to the full range of medicine: what are the place, the role and the function of patient’s words and narratives in contemporary medicine? The highly invested somatic perspective and its political corollary giving primacy to bare life harbor potential risks of obscuring speeches and undervaluing narratives.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. This is alluded to in Michel Foucault’s Lectures at the College de France Security, Territory and Population [28].

  2. Décret n° 2001-236 du 19 mars 2001 relatif aux centres et locaux de rétention administrative [40].

  3. Actually, “habitus” characterizes the way of reasoning and acting of all participants: habitus of detainees appears to be resignated; habitus of policiers appears to be suspicious…. The mere awareness of “habitus” of oneself and of the other is a necessary requirement for careful listening and enables critical self-reflexiveness.

  4. This perception of danger, which may be life-threatening, opposes the governmental notion of a “safe country” that allows the fears of nationals deported to the countries they fled to be deemed unfounded.

  5. In a certain manner, keeping a distance is an official order, which objectively is a paradoxical injunction due to the fact that the organization of a healthcare service in the ADC is no less official.

  6. The increasing issue of health and disease as grounds to exercise rights is not completely new. It is of note that this issue had been already encountered during the First World War. Painful electric shocks were administered for all “war neuroses”, although simulators looking to leave the battlefield were but a small minority of them [29].

  7. Agamben [1] has proposed to consider biopolitics from another, more structural, angle. According to him, natural life (zoe) is normally inseparable from a particular form of life in actual living conditions (bios), which means a socially and politically qualified life. Nevertheless, life itself, so called ‘bare life’, is also politicized. Agamben claims that there is a special link etween sovereign power—extended now to medical power—and bare life, and that this link is the “hidden matrix” of modern political space, Probably he would consider ADC as a particular space where bare life tends to be separated from bios.

  8. According to Levinas [45], the other calls in question the subject: “It is the revelation of a resistance to my powers that does not counter them as a greater force, but calls in question the naïve right of my powers”.

Abbreviations

ADC:

Administrative detention center

OFII:

Office Français de l’Immigration et de l’Intégration

Cimade:

Comité Inter-Mouvement Auprès Des Evacués

References

  1. Agamben, G. (1998). Homo sacer, I. Sovereign power and bare life (Italian ed. 1995). Stanford: Stanford University Press.

  2. Agence de Santé et des services sociaux de Montréal. (2012). Banque interrégionale d’interprètes 2010–2011. Retrieved on May 15, 2014 from http://publications.santemontreal.qc.ca/uploads/tx_asssmpublications/isbn978-2-89510-622-7.pdf.

  3. Bachelot-Narquin, R. (2010). Interprétariat, santé et prévention. Speech March 18th, 2010. Retrieved on May 15, 2014 from http://migrationssante.org/fichiers/File/Allocution-Mme-BACHELOT-au-colloque-ISM.pdf.

  4. Bernard-Reymond, P. (2009). Immigration—la gestion des centres de rétention administrative peut encore être améliorée. Rapport d’information du Sénat déposé le 3 juillet 2009. Retrieved on May 15, 2014, from http://www.senat.fr/rap/r08-516/r08-5169.html.

  5. Bernardot, M. (2009). Une tempête sous un CRA. Violences et protestations dans les centres de rétention administrative français en 2008. Multitudes, 35, 215–224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Bernstein, J., Bernstein, E., Dave, A., Hardt, E., James, T., Linden, J., et al. (2002). Trained medical interpreters in the emergency department: Effects on services, subsequent charges, and follow-up. Journal of Immigrant Health, 4(4), 171–176.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Blake, M. (2013). Immigration, jurisdiction and exclusion. Philosophy & Public Affairs, 41(2), 103–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Blum, A. (2010). Impact de l’interprétariat comme outil de communication pour les patients non francophones en consultation. A propos d’une étude prospective menée aux Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg en 2008. Unpublished thesis, University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France.

  9. Boucekkine, S. (2010). Mise à disposition d’interprètes professionnels en cabinet de médecine libérale. Unpublished thesis, University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France.

  10. Bourdieu, P. (2000). Pascalian meditations. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Brossat, A. (2010). Droit à la vie?. Paris: Seuil.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Bulletin Officiel (2000). Circulaire DPM/CT/DH/DLPAJ/DEF/GEND n° 99-677 du 7 décembre 1999 relative au dispositif sanitaire mis en place dans les centres de rétention administrative. Retrieved on May 15, 2014, from http://www.sante.gouv.fr/fichiers/bo/2000/00-02/a0020199.htm.

  13. Carde, E. (2007). Les discriminations selon l’origine dans l’accès aux soins. Santé Publique, 19(2), 99–109.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Centres et locaux de rétention administrative (2011). Rapport 2010. Retrieved on May 15, 2014, from http://www.copilcra.org/Rapport_retention_2010.pdf.

  15. Ceseda—Code de l’entrée et du séjour des étrangers et du droit d’asile. (2011). Article L 313-11, Retrieved on May 15, 2014, from http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCodeArticle.do;jsessionid=38B896829CEF3F445E2428A5A736C5B4.tpdjo15v_2?idArticle=LEGIARTI000024197223&cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006070158&categorieLien=id&dateTexte=20120509.

  16. Cimade. (2009). Centres et locaux de rétention administrative. Rapport annuel 2009. Retrieved on May 15, 2014, from http://www.assfam.org/spip.php?article998.

  17. Clarke, A. E., Shim, J. K., Marno, L., Fosket, J. R., & Fishman, J. R. (2003). Biomedicalization: Technoscientific transformations of health, illness, and US biomedicine. American Sociological Review, 68(2), 161–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Enjolras, F. (2009). Soigner en centre de rétention administrative. Une question de légitimité? Hommes et Migrations, 1282, 76–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Esscher, A., Binder-Finnema, P., Bødker, B., Högberg, U., Mulic-Lutvica, A., & Essén, B. (2014). Suboptimal care and maternal mortality among foreign-born women in Sweden: Maternal death audit with application of the ‘migration three delays’ model. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 14, 141.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Fassin, D., & d’Halluin, E. (2005). The truth in the body. Medical certificate as ultimate evidence for asylum-seekers. American Anthropologist, 107(4), 597–608.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Fassin, D., & Rechtman, R. (2009). The empire of trauma: An inquiry into the condition of victimhood (French ed. 2007). Princeton: Princeton University Press.

  22. Fassin, D. (2011). Humanitarian reason. A moral history of the present (French ed. 2010). Berkeley: University of California Press.

  23. Fischer, N. (2009). Jeux de regards. Surveillance disciplinaire et contrôle associatif dans les centres de rétention administrative. Genèses, 75, 45–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Fischer, N. (2005). Clandestins au secret. Contrôle et circulation de l’information dans les centres de rétention administrative français. Cultures & Conflits, 57, 91–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Flores, G. (2005). The impact of interpreters medical service on the quality of health care: A systematic review. Medical Care Research and Review, 62(3), 255–299.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Forum Réfugiés. (2011). Incendie au centre de rétention administrative de Marseille. Retrieved on May 15, 2014, from http://www.forumrefugies.org/s-informer/Actualites/incendie-au-centre-de-retention-administrative-de-marseille.

  27. Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish. London: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Foucault, M. (2009). Security, territory, population. Lectures at the Collège de France 1977–1978 (French ed. 2004). New York: Picador.

  29. Freud, S. (1920). Rapport d’expert sur le traitement électrique des névrosés de guerre. In S. Freud (Ed.), Résultats, Idées, Problèmes, I (pp. 249–253). Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.

  30. Furler, J. S., & Palmer, V. J. (2010). The ethics of everyday practice in primary medical care: Responding to social health inequities. Philosophy, Ethics and Humanities in Medicine, 5(6). http://www.peh-med.com/content/5/1/6.

  31. Geiger, H. J. (2001). Racial stereotyping and medicine: The need for cultural competence. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 164(12), 1699–1700.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  32. Gelhaus, P. (2012). The desired moral attitude of the physician: (I) Empathy. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 15(2), 103–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Gelhaus, P. (2012). The desired moral attitude of the physician: (II) Compassion. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 15(4), 397–410.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Harris, J. (2003). In praise of unprincipled ethics. Journal of Medical Ethics, 29(5), 303–306.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  35. Henry, S. G. (2006). Recognizing tacit knowledge in medical epistemology. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, 27(3), 187–213.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Hofmann, B. (2003). Medicine as Techne—A perspective from antiquity. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 28(4), 403–425.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Hudelson, P., & Vilpert, S. (2009). Overcoming language barriers with foreign-language speaking patients: A survey to investigate intra-hospital variation in attitudes and practices. BMC Health Service Research, 9, 187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Hummel, C. (2008). Rapport d’information au nom de la délégation des droits des femmes, déposé le 1er avril 2008. Retrieved on May 15, 2014, from http://www.senat.fr/rap/r07-252/r07-252.html.

  39. Journal officiel. (1980). Loi n° 80-9 du 10 janvier 1980 relative à la prévention de l’immigration clandestine, portant modification de l’ordonnance n° 45-2658 du 2 novembre 1945 relative aux conditions d’entrée et de séjour des étrangers en France. Retrieved on May 15, 2014, from http://legifrance.gouv.fr/jopdf/common/jo_pdf.jsp?numJO=0&dateJO=19800111&numTexte=&pageDebut=00071&pageFin=.

  40. Journal Officiel. (2001). Décret n° 2001-236 du 19 mars 2001 relatif aux centres et locaux de rétention administrative. Retrieved on May 15, 2014, from http://www.admi.net/jo/20010320/INTD0100055D.html,

  41. Karliner, L., Jacobs, E., Chen, A., & Mutha, S. (2007). Do professional interpreters improve clinical care for patients with limited english proficiency? A systematic review of the literature. Health Services Research, 42, 727–754.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  42. Ku, L., & Flores, G. (2005). Pay now or pay later: Providing interpreter services in health care. Health Affairs, 24(2), 435–444.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Larchanché, S. (2012). Intangible obstacles: Health implications of stigmatization, structural violence, and fear among undocumented immigrants in France. Social Science and Medicine, 74(6), 858–863.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  44. Leccia, C. (2008). Les difficultés de la pratique de la médecine générale dans les Unités Médicales des Centres de Rétention Administrative. Unpublished thesis, University of Nice, Nice, France.

  45. Levinas, E. (1961). Totalité et infini, Essai sur l’extériorité. La Haye: M. Nijhoff.

    Google Scholar 

  46. Levinas, E. (1978). Otherwise than being or beyond essence (A. Lingis, Trans.). Dordrecht and Boston, MA: Kluwer (first edition in French 1974, Autrement qu’être ou au-delà de l’essence. La Haye: M. Nijhoff).

  47. Makaremi, C. (2008). Pénalisation de la circulation et reconfigurations de la frontière: le maintien des étrangers en «zone d’attente». Cultures & Conflits, 71, 55–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Mc Neill, P. (2003). Public health ethics: Asylum seekers and the case for political action. Bioethics, 17(5–6), 487–503.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Meylaerts, R. (2009). «Et pour les Flamands, la même chose»: Quelle politique de traduction pour quelles minorités linguistiques? Meta: Translators’ Journal, 54(1), 7–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Milner, J. C. (2011). La politique des choses. Court traité politique 1. Lagrasse: Verdier.

    Google Scholar 

  51. Milner, J. C. (2011). Pour une politique des êtres parlants. Court traité politique 2. Lagrasse: Verdier.

    Google Scholar 

  52. Mohr, E. (2010). L’interprétariat professionnel en milieu hospitalier, enquête auprès de 164 médecins usagers de ce service. Unpublished thesis, University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France.

  53. Muela Ribera, J., Hausmann-Muela, S., Grietens, K. P., & Toomer, E. (2008). Is the use of interpreters in medical consultations justified? A critical review of the literature. Retrieved on May 15, 2014, from http://pass-international.org/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=45&Itemid=59.

  54. Nerson, G. (1999). Doctors of the world’s internal report, October 1999. Unpublished technical report, Médecins du Monde, Paris, France.

  55. Office Fédéral de Santé Publique Suisse. (2011). Service national d’interprétariat par téléphone. Retrieved on May 15, 2014, from http://www.bag.admin.ch/themen/gesundheitspolitik/07685/12532/12557/index.html?lang=fr.

  56. Pellegrino, E. D. (1979). Toward a reconstruction of medical morality: The primacy of the act of profession and the fact of illness. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 4(1), 32–56.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  57. Ricoeur, P. (1991). Préface à Médecins tortionnaires, médecins résistants. In Lectures 1. Paris: Seuil.

  58. Richard, C. (2010). Cimade, Témoignage. Le futur camp du Mesnil Amelot. Retrieved on May 15, 2014, from http://www.lacimade.org/temoignages/2340-Le-futur-camp-du-Mesnil-Amelot-2.

  59. Rosenberg, E., Seller, R., & Leanza, Y. (2008). Through interpreters’eyes: Comparing roles of professional and family intepreters. Patient Education and Counseling, 70(1), 87–93.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  60. San Franscisco General Hospital Foundation. (2011). Interpreter call center and videoconference medical interpretation. Retrieved on May 15, 2014, from http://sfghf.net/programs/vmi.html.

  61. Sayad, A. (2003). The suffering of the immigrant. Cambridge: Polity Press (French ed. 1999).

  62. Suurmond, J., Uiters, E., de Bruijne, M. C., Stronks, K., & Essink-Bot, M.-L. (2011). Negative health care experiences of immigrant patients: A qualitative study. BMC Health Services Research, 11(10). doi:10.1186/1472-6963-11-10.

  63. Tiemersma, D. (1987). Ontology and ethics in the foundation of medicine and the relevance of Levinas’view. Theoretical Medicine, 8(2), 127–133.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  64. Toar, M., O’Brien, K., & Fahey, T. (2009). Comparison of self-reported health & healthcare utilisation between asylum seekers and refugees: An observational study. BMC Public Health, 9, 214. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-9-214.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  65. Tyreman, S. (2000). Promoting critical thinking in health care: Phronesis and criticality. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 3(2), 117–124.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  66. Vanni, M. (2004). L’impatience des réponses: L’éthique d’Emmanuel Levinas au risque de son inscription pratique. Paris: Cerf.

    Google Scholar 

  67. Weber, J.-C. (2012). Pleasure in medical practice. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 15(2), 153–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Todd Meyers and Marie-Catherine Flater for friendly advice in the corrections of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Recherches Interdisciplinaires sur les Sciences et la Technologie, Université de Strasbourg, 4 rue Kirschleger, 67085, Strasbourg Cedex, France

    Murielle Rondeau-Lutz & Jean-Christophe Weber

  2. Service de médecine interne, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, 1 place de l’Hôpital, 67091, Strasbourg Cedex, France

    Murielle Rondeau-Lutz & Jean-Christophe Weber

  3. Association Migrations Santé Alsace, 24 rue du 22 Novembre, 67000, Strasbourg, France

    Murielle Rondeau-Lutz

Authors
  1. Murielle Rondeau-Lutz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jean-Christophe Weber
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jean-Christophe Weber.

Additional information

Murielle Rondeau-Lutz and Jean-Christophe Weber have equally contributed to the drafting of this article.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rondeau-Lutz, M., Weber, JC. The Absent Interpreter in Administrative Detention Center Medical Units. Health Care Anal 25, 34–51 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10728-014-0285-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10728-014-0285-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation