Is that All?

During the office visit, the patient's blood pressure was abnormally high even after several measurements. The patient was told to measure the blood pressure twice a day at home and report back in a week. After one week, the patient called the doctor's office and left a voice message that the brood pressure was still slight elevated and what the patient should do before going on the trip.

The clinic nurse called back with an interpreter and left a voice message. The interpreter's voice said, "Continue with the present therapy (in target language). Is that all (in English)?" The interpreter was apparently asking the nurse for the confirmation and the nurse said, "yes". The patient's family was wondering how the nurse knew what the interpreter said. They thought, if she knew, she didn't need an interpreter.

The family didn't know what was told to the interpreter to translate by the nurse since that conversation was not the part of the voice message. But the family was wandering which therapy the patient suppose to follow since the patient was not getting any therapy. They called back the clinic and talked to a nurse for the clarification.

The therapy which the interpreter translated was for the patient to stay on the present medication schedule. It could probably be the acceptable translation even though there are more simpler and clear translation for it.

However, the critical mistake the interpreter made was the part the interpreter did not translate. The most important part of the message was for the patient to reduce the sodium intake and monitor the blood pressure.

The patient reduced the sodium intake and the blood pressure came back to normal.

What could have happened if the patient did not know about the sodium issue and continued to eat as usual during the trip?