Can doctors count on Google to translate? 

Google Translate gets passing grades — with caveats — when it comes to translating a doctor’s written instructions in English to Spanish and Chinese, according to a new test of the tool’s skills. Researchers used Google to translate 100 sets of emergency discharge instructions. It was accurate for 92 percent of translations into Spanish and 81 percent into Chinese. But a small share of the translations — 2 percent in Spanish and 8 percent in Chinese — had the potential to harm patients. A prime example: A doctor wrote that a patient should “hold the kidney medicine,” which translated into Spanish as “keep the medication” and into Chinese as “keep taking." The researchers say doctors could use the tool in the clinic with caution.