“We’re Just going to make you comfortable now”

Interpreting Conversations About Death

February 21, 2026 9am-11am CST
Online via Zoom

Paul Belmonte MSc, RSLI

Specialist Medical BSL/English Interpreter, Edinburgh Scotland

One of the more challenging situations in which we work is when we are interpreting with a patient who is nearing the end of their life. As well as the emotional impact of giving voice to the dying, the interpreter must also carefully manage their relationships with all parties while making some difficult decisions around the language they use to describe death.

This presentation will discuss the conclusions of a cross-disciplinary discussion, where the presenter met with a palliative care consultant and a clinical nurse specialist to review the care given to a deaf patient and the lessons learned as we offered support at the end of his life.

On completion of this workshop, participants will:

• Have gained tools to evaluate the degree to which impartiality and emotional detachment is appropriate in interpreting for end of life care.

• Be able to examine the tightrope between using language clear enough to be certain the patient understands the imminence of their own death, while at the same time working with the euphemisms used by the medical team to make their conversations as gentle as possible.

• Choose how they will interpret common phrases in end of life care such as, “We’re just going to make you comfortable now”.