We are second-class patients: Catalan in IB-Salut

I, who have already put a six in front of the figure that states my age, have so far come out cheap for the public health system. If you count all the care, tests, treatments, and interventions I've had throughout my life, since fortunately there haven't been many, the economic balance is favorable to IB-Salut. But I won't deny it: I've started to have little things. Unimportant trifles, parts that wear out from continuous use of the machinery. And since it's better to prevent than to cure, I've started to go for a few check-ups. Among the doctors who have visited me, there have been a couple of South Americans with whom I have had no problem when I addressed them in Catalan. They answer me in Spanish without any problem, nor do I. On the second visit, one of these doctors plucked up the courage to stammer in Catalan, and I encouraged him to continue because he was doing very well. The Charter of rights and duties of the healthcare user from the Government tells me that I have the right to obtain information, verbal and written, in understandable language and in the official language of the Balearic Islands that I choose. I have not asked the doctors who have attended me for anything more than what they have done: that they understand me when I address them in Catalan. Thank you very much. But to the public Health system, to the health administration, I do ask - I demand - that the documentation be delivered to me in Catalan: written appointment and referral letters, diagnostic reports, informed consents, analysis results, medication instructions, therapeutic advice. Well, no. Impossible. 

I have asked the healthcare or administrative staff who have attended me a few times, but they tell me that the computer system writes in Castilian. It occurred to me if it could be a therapy to prevent cognitive functions: they give you papers in a language that is not yours to make your neurons work. But I quickly dismissed it. Since all citizens are equal, if this were the reason, patients in Castilian would be given papers in Catalan and it turns out not to be the case. I decided to file a formal complaint with the User Assistance Service. I told them that, invariably, all the documentation provided to me for any health-related matter is in Spanish and, appealing to the Charter of Rights and Duties, I requested that, in the same way that without asking me for anything beforehand, all this documentation has been issued in Spanish until now, from now on, without me having to explicitly ask for it either, all documentation be provided to me in Catalan.The response reached me just a week later. In this they were indeed efficient, but not in resolving the complaint. They tell me that, unfortunately (are they the ones regretting it or am I the one who has to regret it?), they cannot guarantee it, and they give me homework: that I myself request the translation of reports, medical histories, and any other documentation that I do not receive in Catalan. That is to say, of all of them. Since we are talking about health and one day the situation could be serious, they kindly add that the translation will be carried out with the utmost possible diligence, as if to say 'make an effort not to die before then'. Then they elaborate on the refusal: 'The current computer system does not allow selecting the document generation language, and many are created automatically, without us being able to have them in both languages'. Now it is clear that the computer system suffers from an allergy or intolerance to the cedilla and the double L. In the last paragraph, they tell me that some professionals do not have the necessary level of Catalan to draft reports in this language. Oh, curious. Are not the current rulers the ones who have eliminated the Catalan requirement? I understand and share that given the lack of staff affecting the healthcare sector, temporary exceptions must be made to cover sensitive jobs, and it is for this very reason that I have not asked the doctors who have attended me to address me in Catalan, nor for them to be the ones to write the reports in Catalan. In fact, I have not asked the doctors for anything: I ask IB-Salut, the institution, the public system that I am paying for. And it is this, and not the doctors, that is giving me the runaround. Technically it is impossible, they say, but in reality it is not a computer malfunction, but a health problem. The system suffers from a degenerative disease that, as is typical of ailments of this kind, gets worse and worse. Motor, cognitive, and sensory capacities are lost. The system forgets to do basic things, it loses memory and skills, until some functions can never be recovered again.