Discharge Summaries, Tests, Reports: How Medical Translation Is Prepared

Published: 17 September 2026 · Reading time approximately 7 minutes

Medical translation is requested for two separate purposes: an application for treatment or a second opinion abroad, and a claim or pre-approval file to be submitted to an insurance company. The two have different document lists and certification chains; you need to know from the outset which of them the file is being prepared for.

Which documents are translated?

• Discharge summary (epicrisis) and patient file summary
• Laboratory and test results, pathology reports
• Imaging reports (MRI, CT and X-ray descriptions)
• Operation note and anaesthesia record
• Prescription, medication list and treatment plan
• Invoices and payment documents (in insurance files)

Terminology: abbreviations and units

One per cent of a medical text is prose; the rest is abbreviations and units. In laboratory results, reference ranges and units of measurement vary from country to country; when a unit is rendered into the other language, the value behind it is never converted — the value and the unit are carried over exactly as they stand in the source, with a translator's note added where necessary. Decisions belong to the physician; the translator's task is exact transfer, not interpretation.

Handwritten notes are a separate matter. Rather than guessing at an illegible entry, we mark the line in question and ask you about it, or ask you to obtain a legible copy from the hospital.

Is notarial certification required?

For a file sent to a hospital abroad for a second opinion, a sworn translation is usually enough. For documents to be attached to an official application, however — an insurance claim, a court file, an application to a public authority — notarial certification is required, together with an apostille where the foreign authority asks for one.

Dates and completeness in insurance files

Insurance companies ask for the file as a whole : the first application, the diagnostic process, the treatment and the invoice chain, in date order. A single missing report holds the file up. Before starting the translation we arrange the document list in date order and point out any gaps.

Confidentiality: health data is special category data

Under the Personal Data Protection Law, health information counts as special category personal data and is subject to stricter protection. Your documents are processed solely for the purpose of the translation, are not shared with anyone outside our translator team, who are bound by a duty of confidentiality, and are deleted at your request once the work is complete.

Correct order

First establish which institution is asking for the document and in which language, then check whether anything is missing, then start the translation, and complete the certification chain last. Files run in reverse order end up paying the translation fee twice.

What do we do?

With sworn translators who are at home in medical terminology we prepare the translation of discharge summaries, test results and reports, and carry out the notarial certification and apostille chain that is required. Send us your report and we will give you a firm price and delivery date based on the page and word count. Priority delivery is possible for urgent files.