Day 45: A Rookie's First Scoop

Dialogue

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1. 1
   A

   Pase, Josué. Me dicen que trae una bomba sobre el hospital y que no la suelta.

   Come in, Josué. I hear you've got a bombshell about the hospital and you won't let go of it.

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2. 2
   B

   Así es, licenciada: el hospital presume veintiún días de espera para cirugía, y según mis datos son siete meses.

   That's right: the hospital boasts of a twenty-one-day wait for surgery, and according to my data it's seven months.

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3. 3
   A

   ¿Sus datos? Sea cual fuere la fuente, lo primero que va a preguntar el abogado del hospital es cómo los obtuvo.

   Your data? Whatever the source may be, the first thing the hospital's lawyer will ask is how you got it.

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4. 4
   B

   Del propio hospital: pedí por transparencia su lista de espera, con fechas de registro y de cirugía.

   From the hospital itself: I put in a freedom of information request for its waiting list, with the dates of registration and of surgery.

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5. 5
   A

   Antes de titular “El hospital miente”, lea su aviso legal: “Se procederá contra quien resultare responsable de difundir información falsa”.

   Before you write the headline “The Hospital Lies,” read its legal notice: “Proceedings shall be brought against whosoever shall be found responsible for spreading false information.”

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6. 6
   B

   Es que sí es falsa: de mil doscientos casos, ni uno solo se operó antes de cuatro meses.

   But it is false: out of twelve hundred cases, not a single one was operated on in under four months.

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7. 7
   A

   ¿Y ya revisó desde cuándo cuentan ellos? No hay cifra oficial que no traiga su letra chiquita.

   And have you checked when they start counting? There's no official figure without its small print.

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8. 8
   B

   Aquí está, en letra chiquita: cuentan “desde que el paciente hubiere concluido su valoración preoperatoria”. Y eso tarda meses.

   Here it is, in the small print: they count “from the day on which the patient shall have completed his pre-operative assessment.” And that takes months.

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9. 9
   A

   Ahí tiene su nota. La cifra no es falsa, es tramposa, y esa diferencia separa una primicia de una demanda.

   There's your story. The figure isn't false, it's a sleight of hand, and that difference separates a scoop from a lawsuit.

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10. 10
    B

    Entonces titulo: “Siete meses de espera, según los datos del propio hospital”. Y quien quisiere demandarnos, que se demande a sí mismo.

    Then my headline is: “A Seven-Month Wait, According to the Hospital's Own Data.” And whosoever wishes to sue us may sue himself.

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