I couldn't agree more about competence over bedside manner, Lyn!
I've been quite fortunate to not have too many doctor encounters over the years, other than for routine physicals and such. My experience with the language issues comes largely from having done medical transcription for large hospital systems for about 18 years; when an experienced transcriptionist, who has a general idea of what the dictation is about to begin with and has a good comprehension of medical terms, can't make head or tail out of what the doc is saying, I KNOW that their patients have to be struggling to understand. If the patient would simply speak up and say "I don't understand what you are trying to tell me and would like to talk to someone else," then the problem could be solved; but most people just don't want to admit that they don't understand, whether it's because of a foreign accent or because the doctor just isn't using terms they can understand.
