A remote area near where I live in Wyoming has been chosen as the site of the Rainbow Family’s annual gathering. Anywhere from 3000-15000 individuals are expected in the first week of July.
We have already seen an influx, and one woman had the misfortune of becoming injured and having to stay all night at the hospital where I am employed. The woman is deaf, and part of her injury is that she cannot move one of her arms.
When she was brought into the ER, it took a while to find someone who could sign to her. Apparently, this person was not the greatest interpreter. The patient asked to have someone “certified” in ASL, and a person was found, and agreed to come in and help. She stayed for a couple of hours last night, and agreed to come back this afternoon for a while.
I learned ASL in college, and was able to try to communicate this morning, but I am extremely rusty (18 years since I have had to sign, and not any real knowledge of the vocabulary required for a hospital situation).
The woman’s doctor was in this morning, and she was unable to “ask him questions”. She is able to communicate effectively through writing. He told her nurses to get a list of questions that he would go through and give the answers to be communicated later through the interpreter. (He is a jerk and has terrible bedside manner in any and all situations.)
The patient is , understandably, frustrated. She is very angry that we are not acknowledging her rights under the ADA. She seems to believe that she has the right to have an interpreter 24/7. She doesn’t understand that we are a small hospital that was lucky to find someone to come in at all in the middle of a weekend.
Can anyone clarify what effort must be made to accomodate her needs?
Surely your hospital is big enough to have a lawyer on retainer, if not an entire legal department. It’s their job to advise the staff as to their responsibilities in these type of situations; you should take advantage of that resource before asking a messageboard full of crazy people like us.
I’m sure there are attorneys on retainer, but I’m asking for my benefit-- indulge me. I have been directly involved in trying to help this lady. And “surely” we do not have a legal department or an attorney in the building.
Also, how many attorneys are sitting around taking calls on the weekend? Not many in this neck of the woods…
I’ve seen a lot of questions around here that were dumber than this one. If you don’t have the answer, or don’t want to answer, that’s fine. The entire population of Wyoming is less than 500,000. People don’t get that when you leave the big city, available services diminish. We aren’t in Brooklyn.
From the link I cited: Effective communication is particularly critical in health care settings where miscommunication may lead to misdiagnosis and improper or delayed medical treatment.
Get your legal department involved. Now.
I doubt the legal eagles would like to deal with CMS coming in and auditing the hospital’s apparent lack of procedures for dealing with disabled patients.
Yes, Spartacus, it was a start. Didn’t answer my question, though.
Our state provides these kinds of services. We were told that there is an interpreter available in Cheyenne (5 hrs from us).
We are able (until Mon) to get someone to come in for a couple of hours at a time.
Wow, this is only the second time I’ve posted a question on this board. I didn’t realize that it would be so insulting to others to read a question. If it’s not up your alley, don’t answer. Assiness isn’t required.
BTW, I did look up the ADA, and there are no “absolutes”, so I was looking for input from others who may have experience with this situation.
My knowledge of the ADA is limited to employment settings. There, the standards are that situations are handled case-by-case with very few absolutes. What employers are required to provide is called “reasonable accommodation.” If this were an employment situation, the employer would be expected to try to accommodate but the law would take your isolated location into some consideration.
This may sound obvious, but why can’t the doctor give answers in writing? A failure to do something seemingly obvious like that could be a problem.
He made (IMO) a cursory attempt to communicate with her using writing (having a nurse as the go-between).
He is the only ortho surgeon in Fremont county (area of 9,200+ square miles) that is available to take call on the weekends.
She was not a surgical candidate, and he had other surgical patients that required his care.
She was advised that the injury must be kept immobile, and that her summer of camping and travelling was advisedly over. She was then released from his care. She was quite distraught, and very emotional. She was not willing to accept his advice and wanted a second opinion. The only way that could happen was for her to leave the facility and make an appointment with another doctor.
(She was medically released… She was kept as a courtesy for “pain control” overnight. Any other patient probably would have been released and asked to have the injury x-rayed again next week and follow up with your own Doc).
She is under the impression that because she is disabled (hearing impaired) that Medicare will pay for her to stay indefinitely in the hospital. She wants to stay until July 10, at which time she may have someone that can take her back to Virginia.
I feel sorry for the lady. Her vagabond lifestyle is not at all conducive to having a broken limb. I feel like I did everything I personally could do for her, but I became a little worried that since I am not a “certified” ASL interpreter, I may have muddied the waters even further as far as her “rights” are concerned. As I stated earlier, she is unable to move one arm. Even someone fluent in ASL is going to have problems in this situation.
Do you have a video phone at the hospital? You could call a video relay service. The Deaf person sings to an interpreter on the videophone, and the interpreter talks to your guys on the phone.
IANAL, but I was an ADA coordinator in a previous job (a volunteer addition to my regular duties). I didn’t have to deal with people in a health care situation, but I think someone needs to talk with the woman’s doctor and get him to be more accommodating than you’ve described in your posts. His unwillingness to communicate directly with her could subject the hospital to legal action at a later date. (I’m speculating, not speaking from solid information.)
The important thing is that the hospital should make every effort to communicate with this patient as fully and completely as they would with any other patient. The certified interpreter is preferred, and a video relay could work, but writing or taking turns using a computer to type questions and answers could be easier and faster.
Don’t worry. It’s not your job to be an interpreter, and the patient should be grateful that you made an effort. (If she’s not, don’t let it bother you. You did your best. Keep trying.) Also, the little I’ve studied of ASL (perhaps less than you) suggests that it’s perfectly possible to sign with one arm, if necessary.
Just piping in to say that please, please don’t judge all deaf person by this person. All deaf people have different needs.
The most miserable night of my life was when they took me from the ER and stuck me in a waiting room for 6 hours with a kidney infection. Finally someone came in and said “oh sorry we can’t get an interpreter for you at this hour”.
I never requested an interpreter. I am willing to write and lipread if it means to get treated sooner. So if you have other deaf patients please, please make sure and evaluate what they want first.
And, yes, interpreters are very very hard to get on an emergency and your deaf patient’s not being very understanding if she hasn’t figured that out by now.
dre2xl-- I know that a majority of hearing impaired people are very appreciative when anyone makes an effort on their behalf. I worked in a retail pharmacy for 15 years, and I had multiple customers that I “attempted” to help through sign language. All of them were very gracious. Some of them teased me when I got flustered, but I have only had positive experiences up to now.
This lady, I can forgive. She is in a strange place, and in a lot of pain. I have a feeling that she feels doubly discriminated against. Aside from being deaf, she lives a very alternative lifestyle (to what we are used to in this area).
I also respect that she’s not willing to just be shooed away or brushed aside. She’s aware that she has basic rights.
Unfortunately, I don’t know if we (society in general) understand those rights. That’s not to say that we don’t care, or don’t want to… We just haven’t faced this situation before.
The only other incident that I’ve had that has made me feel as frustrated was with a deaf couple that did not speak English. My old “standby” of fingerspelling was totally useless with them. I’m sure, also, that being from Mexico, their sign language was completely different from ours.
As for the doctor, he isn’t technically an “employee” of the hospital. He can’t be made to follow policies, but he is leaving himself wide open to further actions.