A patient describes a 30-minute episode of garbled speech. What is this condition called?

The correct answer is the condition known as dysphasia. Dysphasia is characterized by difficulties in understanding or producing spoken or written language. A patient experiencing garbled speech, as described, indicates a disruption in their language processing capabilities, which aligns with the symptoms of dysphasia. This condition can occur due to various reasons including stroke, head injury, or neurological disorders, and is often marked by the production of nonsensical words or phrases, making communication challenging.

In contrast, apraxia refers to the difficulty in planning and executing voluntary motor movements, which can affect speech but is not directly linked to the content becoming garbled. Hemiplegia is a paralysis that affects one side of the body, which does not specifically describe the communication issues presented in the question. Speech delay implies a lag in the development of speech typically seen in children and does not relate to the sudden onset of garbled speech experienced by the patient in this scenario. Thus, dysphasia is the most fitting term for the described episode.