Effective Communication in Hospital

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howardwoodsjr

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Hello everyone!

Is it me or has there been any other deaf or hoh citizens that have gone to their local emergency room or hospital for treatment in which they were denied a ASL/Oral Interpreter upon request?

Would love to hear from those that have had this problem before.
 
I've only requested an interpreter once - last year, when I had a bad mastoid infection and was getting ready for surgery. The receptionist I spoke to was happy to help, but she couldn't get past ASL - as a non-signer, I wanted either oral interpreting or CART, but "deaf patient" immediately made her think "ASL". Grr, especially since this was in the ENT department. I ended up just writing notes, and clarifying things later with the relative I was going to appointments with - very irritating.

It's amazing how these supposed specialists just don't make the connection. Right now, I'm talking to a cochlear surgeon about implantation, and she made various comments about how "you must be an excellent lip reader" after looking at my chart - then, not 10 minutes later, turned her back to me and kept talking. She turned towards me when I pointed this out, but I was surprised she didn't apologize or seem embarrassed. :roll:
 
Never happened to me before.

When I was living in AZ, I was "hearing" and didnt know sign language so that thought has never crossed my mind

Moving to MD, I learned ASL and realized that I miss out a lot of critical information at the hospital so I started requesting interpreters. No problem there. Maybe it is cuz MD has a large deaf community?
 
If you don't get an interpreter, complain. They have no right to deny you such when using other forms of communication (pencil and paper) can lead to you being uninformed.
 
Aleser said:
If you don't get an interpreter, complain. They have no right to deny you such when using other forms of communication (pencil and paper) can lead to you being uninformed.
Click to expand...


Definetly, writing pad and pencil causes misinformation about the medical terms. it is too risky ! Interpreter is very important to have a better communication with the doctors and nurses !
 
Many hospitals here use VRI. So I dont have a problem with it here.

Richard
 
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