Any and all information regarding finding a bilingual doctor in Lyon who speaks English, will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
If you look at a doctor’s individual entry on doctolib for example it will say whether they speak other languages.
However, some may not speak it well and it can actually cause more misunderstanding than less. To me it is best to let the doctor speak in the language they are most comfortable with, and the patient do the work to understand it.
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@Arrell - if you don’t feel your French is up to it, there are some useful translation apps. I have used Deepl and Google Translate during medical appointments to translate some less common terms. It’s a lot lighter than carrying a bilingual medical dictionary!
Also, or local MT offers a service where a translator accompanies you to the meeting. I’ve never used it so can’t comment other than suggest that you ask your MT - or more likely, the Receptionist. If anyone knows, they will!
I confess I’m slightly surprised that French doctors don’t almost universally speak English.
I know Brits have a terrible reputation for learning other languages and often accused of arrogantly expecting everyone else to speak English - but this is not that (if you see what I mean).
English is the lingua Franca (oh, the irony 
) of the scientific community. International medical conferences are typically held in English and most research is published in English.
So, I would worry that any French doctor who does not speak English is cutting themselves off from current research and professional development resources - which can’t be good even for a rural GP and certainly not for a hospital specialist.
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The problem for most of us is finding a doctor full stop! But I agree with @billybutcher : most of them are likely to have at least some English, especially in the tourist areas.
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This might sound silly, but how far have you looked so far?
Lyon is a centre of medical excellence and I have a young specialist at Edouard Herriot who does speak good English but is sometimes reluctant to do so.
My MT is in Cluny and in the practice they have two English speaking doctors.
I always make a list of questions to ask at my appointments and may I suggest that you do the same and put it through a translation app.
Also anything else you might want your doctor to know.
Looking through Docto Lib, as already suggested, could be a good starting point.
My own Doc does speak reasonable English, but prefers to speak in French. Fair enough.
When/if necessary either of us will swap from French and use a little English, thus ensuring we are both understanding 
He often has Trainee Docs with him and, if they can speak a little English, he always tells 'em to talk to me in English, insists on it. 
He knows I’ll be double-checking in French, what they “think” they’ve said in English 
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They probably do speak conversational english, but it can be risky for them to use english in a medical setting. If they make a mistake in English then it their fault. They have a responsibility to communicate accurately to their patient but why should that extend to having a fluent grasp of the patients’ language?
They are french doctors, practicing in France where the legal language is French. If they don’t want to use English it’s their choice. And some don’t choose to. Others are perfectly happy to use english for minor matters.
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Slight thread drift…
When I was chatting with a Director of an international company, he explained that they only accept New Applicants who can speak at least 3 languages, French, English and 1 other, so they can send them to their Sites anywhere in the world.
That was a few years ago… things might have changed, but I found it interesting.
At the time, we were conversing in French as our whole group was French apart from OH and me…
and the Director loved my accent… so he said.
Which is fair enough.
However if a patient is English and does not speak much French the doctor should use English if it helps understanding.
OK, this brings us to the wider point about learning the language of your host country and I do believe pretty strongly that people should learn the language, integrate, and not just interact with a little expatriate enclave but back in the real world…
I so agree with Jane. This, however can be difficult for some patients - OH really struggles to understand but that is partly because he doesn’t want to know what’s happening to him!
His urologist speaks good English and the young woman cardiologist we saw earlier this week also spoke in English to him.
I have a young ophthalmologist who speaks good English and used it when he was explaining to me about my eye condition. Ever since he’s spoken French.
Younger ones are more likely to be fluent in English. Some older doctors without doubt can speak some English but are reluctant to do so (do not want to make a mistake / look foolish?) but I’ve been corrected sometimes when I’ve been explaining to OH in English, so I know they understand and speak more than they are prepared to let on.
That said, I think it is my responsibility to understand my own health issues and by default my OH’s.
I always go with him to his appointments so I can make sure I understand what his treatment is going to be.
I use DEEPL and google translate a lot and also reverso because it usefully puts medical terms into actual sentences.
I always read the compte rendu that we are given by the specialists for our GP and I check through blood test results. I often don’t understand the terms or the numbers but that has nothing to do with their being in French, it’s because they are medical! And often the French and the English words are virtually identical.
Google is wonderful for that, drop a whole French medical phrase into google and ask what it means - in French and English.
I’m learning French (and English) words I would rather not know, but I do prefer the French way with all of this. The attitude of the medical world here is that I am responsible for my own health and so I see much more than I would in the UK (eg I own my scans, blood tests, ECGs etc).
No “should” about it. The doctor would be perfectly within his or her rights to tell the patient to go and find someone to translate for them. If they want to then that’s their choice to do so, but unless a condition of their job it is not a requirement. (Maybe American Hospital in Paris would be different).
I have a great Iraqi cardiologist and his training in Iraq was entirely in English, so he spoke English more than fluently until the nurse objected as she couldn’t understand. So we reverted to French.
In the UK doctors have a statutory duty to obtain consent, that duty includes overcoming communication difficulties where they exist and the NHS provides translators for non native English speakers.
I appreciate France has a different approach, wrong IMO, but that’s culture for you - France is not the UK and vice versa.
Yes doctors here also have to obtain consent, but in my experience this has been done on paper with signing a consent form. For every procedure I can remember the convocation has been accompanied by a form to sign and return. Or, as with RDV tomorrow for an MRI I will be greeted with a form at the reception desk.
The French Health Service does not routinely provide translators, although there are some voluntary groups who help.
Edit - I tell a lie. Follow ing various European conferences the current Charter from the Ministry of Health does now say that the use of interpreters or associations for people who don’t speak French, including those who are deaf and hard of hearing, will be sought.
Outside services for highly contagious diseases there doesn’t seem to be a budget for it tho’ so a bit of a chocolate teapot.
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After an 8 hour stay in the ER a couple weeks ago I noticed that the doctors and nurses had a number to call for live translation from a real person for people who didn’t speak English well. No idea of the cost but I think it would a good tool for all doctors to have
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Great idea! I’ve never come across that before. I wonder whether it can cope with eg Albanian? Or maybe it’s a bot?
No it was definitly a person. No way a bot could have talked with the nurse/doctor like that. It was on speaker phone and the ER was so packed we were sitting in the hall rather than a room. I saw 3 different languages but ya who knows how diverse the selection is
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Let me know when UK-based doctors can all speak to any French patients in the UK in French, and then I’ll consider whether French doctors practicing in France should speak to patients in anything other than French…
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Ah, you missed my point I think.
Is the NHS paying for these translators? Is this service just for short term residents / over for business / holiday makers / exchange students etc. If so great service . But for long term residents / those that have the right to reside, the NHS shouldn’t pay for this service.