I actually ran into this problem with my dentist’s new assistant. I suspected poor English skills, but with the accent, it was hard to tell if she really responded to my questions.
Then she screwed up with the liquid numbing agent, some of which I accidentally swallowed. I snore mildly at night, but essentially experienced apnea AWAKE.
I could breathe out but not in. I tried to say I was choking. Signaled it with hands on my throat. She asked questions I couldn’t understand. Had to force my way up and out of the chair, intentionally knocking things over to get the attention of others who might be able to help.
I almost passed out.
Sitting upright and forward, my airway cleared enough for me to breathe. Once I could speak, she asked what had happened. I explained. “You didn’t tell me what was wrong.” “I couldn’t breathe.”
I told the dentist that the language barrier made her a threat to my safety as demonstrated by this incident. That she could not understand patients well enough to do her job.
I was called racist by the *)#&*!@.
I reminded everyone present that I just choked and nearly passed out because of her mistake AND inability to understand a patient saying she’d messed up anesthesia. If I’d been semi-sedated, I’d probably be dead.
I do not use that woman anymore.