I was actually denied an interpreter at a hospital

I believe you, Jenny, they're just trying to do some covering up.

What they had failed to admit that the staffs had fail to provide an interpreter service for their patient after numeric of repeated requests and that's violation of Title II of the ADA and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Under one of these statutes hospitals must provide services for deaf and hard of hearing individuals to ensure effective communication between the parties, which meaning an interpreter, an interpreter!!! I don't blame your friend for being loud, because it's ridiculous that they kept trying to talk to you when you had requested for an interpreter.
 
Back pain can be a sign of a kidney infection or a urinary tract infection. They take a urine sample to check for bacteria and/or blood in the urine to see if infection or injury to the kidney is the cause of the pain.

You're right, I forget about that. I was just thinking with the way the nurses acted they thought she was high! Maybe the nurses were on drugs !
 
In some states, some deaf people carry a small paper card that printed a 24-hours emergency interpreter service with a telephone number on it. It would be a very good idea for you to look up on the Google for your state to see what they offer for you.

On Google, for example in PA, Deaf-Hearing Communication Centre, Inc.


Note: Some hospitals have a small sign on the wall that tells you to contact the service with a TTY telephone number on it. Be advise, some posts on the wall are in the wrong location. It is just unbelievable.

For example:

one sign on behind a door or

a sign is on wall in the hallway right near a secretary's teller (slide windows).
 
I believe you, Jenny, they're just trying to do some covering up.

What they had failed to admit that the staffs had fail to provide an interpreter service for their patient after numeric of repeated requests and that's violation of Title II of the ADA and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Under one of these statutes hospitals must provide services for deaf and hard of hearing individuals to ensure effective communication between the parties, which meaning an interpreter, an interpreter!!! I don't blame your friend for being loud, because it's ridiculous that they kept trying to talk to you when you had requested for an interpreter.

Yes, quite likely story. Also Jenny use the law to the fullest extend - teach them a hard lesson. No one should dare to think d/Deaf people/person are insiginficant in any way, How Dare they!. More to the point, how dare they risk to not observe the law that is put in place intending to state clearly d/Deaf have entitlement to this accomodation and also are entitled to complain even this mean restoring to use of Justice Law. (sic, sorry i dont believe we have ALL of it, or as much as we would desire to have) However, in this case, we CAN lash back at the ignorant bloody ding-dongs of hearing people.
 
I'm not shocked honestly... I should be after being in the healthcare field for so long... but I'm not surprised healthcare is no longer about patient care- and empathy-- it's about making a buck!!

I know this was upsetting emotionally to you-- but honestly the staff should have looked at it from a malpractice point of view as well!!

When I worked in clinic and the ER we NEVER relied on the family members to terp... (not for ASL, Spanish, anything) that wasn't 'their job' AND-- medical interpretation can be more complicated than casual coversation-- so to be sure the right questions were asked-- thus providing the physician w/the right answers someone was called. Geez!!! That alone could get them in a bunch of trouble, your friend could sign the wrong thing and the patient could give the wrong answer~~ Dr. gives the wrong meds and whoa it could get UGLY if not deadly...

Yes you can read and write-- but that takes even longer and can be difficult depending on the nurse/doctors handwriting-- what if the patient can't decipher the scribbles?? Or vice versa, the patient has bad handwriting... AGAIN not providing the correct information, leading to a possible misdiagnosis...

I don't think they realize not having a PROFESSIONAL terp (no offense to anyone who is there to help a friend or family member) can endanger the life of the patient!!

I'm dealing w/a situation myself and the ER physician who 'treated' me this past week... (and I work for this healthcare system btw-- so it's really bad when the employees know something's wrong!) and I was directed to the Patient Liasion... they can start a complaint for you, if you haven't already spoke to them.

Jenny I am so sorry this happened to you. Between this and other things I have witnessed this week I fear what it will be like for Adam when he gets older...

good luck!!! Keep us posted~~ I'm especially curious about what happens...
 
Did anyone else catch this in the nurses' statement?

"Locating was called for sign language interpreter and we were informed the staff who works at L+D who can sign was not on duty today."

That doesn't sound like a professional interpreter to me. Even if that staff member had been on duty, Jenny might not have received professional services.
 
But Lissa, Deaf people dont consider themselve Disabled? whats up with that?

Not with ASL, no..but to get it, we have to be "disabled". It is a shame.
 
I'm glad you are moving forward with the complaint Jenny.

Can you put something in a local paper or local D/deaf news that would ask for others who have received this mistreatment to come forward?

A group of people are not as easy to dismiss or cover up than a single person.
 
I'm not shocked honestly... I should be after being in the healthcare field for so long... but I'm not surprised healthcare is no longer about patient care- and empathy-- it's about making a buck!!

I know this was upsetting emotionally to you-- but honestly the staff should have looked at it from a malpractice point of view as well!!

When I worked in clinic and the ER we NEVER relied on the family members to terp... (not for ASL, Spanish, anything) that wasn't 'their job' AND-- medical interpretation can be more complicated than casual coversation-- so to be sure the right questions were asked-- thus providing the physician w/the right answers someone was called. Geez!!! That alone could get them in a bunch of trouble, your friend could sign the wrong thing and the patient could give the wrong answer~~ Dr. gives the wrong meds and whoa it could get UGLY if not deadly...

Yes you can read and write-- but that takes even longer and can be difficult depending on the nurse/doctors handwriting-- what if the patient can't decipher the scribbles?? Or vice versa, the patient has bad handwriting... AGAIN not providing the correct information, leading to a possible misdiagnosis...

I don't think they realize not having a PROFESSIONAL terp (no offense to anyone who is there to help a friend or family member) can endanger the life of the patient!!

I'm dealing w/a situation myself and the ER physician who 'treated' me this past week... (and I work for this healthcare system btw-- so it's really bad when the employees know something's wrong!) and I was directed to the Patient Liasion... they can start a complaint for you, if you haven't already spoke to them.

Jenny I am so sorry this happened to you. Between this and other things I have witnessed this week I fear what it will be like for Adam when he gets older...

good luck!!! Keep us posted~~ I'm especially curious about what happens...

Sorry i missed your post before, I just saw it (my mind is tad clearer now (so i saw your post whilst reading it in without thinking 'oh another irrelevant post'- theres just too many to read so i kind of got forced into 'selective reading' wonder how common this is), must be the state of it, i was under stress due to essays) and would like to say I liked your post, it is excellent. It is so spot-on, yup the prority it seems, to be swaying over the money before care. Its quite disturbing and I wonder how far down do we have to go (put up with this) before the doctors starts to realise how greedy they were in their medical ambitions (and thus how finanical gains affected the whole thing), it's really scary when you ponder on this sort of thing. in this world, being already over crowded and there is still lots of misleading ideas in the media which promote procreation along with "normal" lifestyle which a certain way of looking at what kind of property people ought to strive to score. All this mentality distracts all those tied in the medical feild away from this realisation their greed affects all. Granted there are worse examples of greed like those CEOs, CFOs, PRs in the top-level of corporates but they are falling now (so they say). My point is, how long do we have to hold up this ideology of greed before this is realised to be destructive to humanity??
its quite shocking, but again as you said, it is not shocking once as if you already are exposed to this idea and having observed first-hand accounts reflecting this trepidition.
 
Sorry i missed your post before, I just saw it (my mind is tad clearer now (so i saw your post whilst reading it in without thinking 'oh another irrelevant post'- theres just too many to read so i kind of got forced into 'selective reading' wonder how common this is), must be the state of it, i was under stress due to essays) and would like to say I liked your post, it is excellent. It is so spot-on, yup the prority it seems, to be swaying over the money before care. Its quite disturbing and I wonder how far down do we have to go (put up with this) before the doctors starts to realise how greedy they were in their medical ambitions (and thus how finanical gains affected the whole thing), it's really scary when you ponder on this sort of thing. in this world, being already over crowded and there is still lots of misleading ideas in the media which promote procreation along with "normal" lifestyle which a certain way of looking at what kind of property people ought to strive to score. All this mentality distracts all those tied in the medical feild away from this realisation their greed affects all. Granted there are worse examples of greed like those CEOs, CFOs, PRs in the top-level of corporates but they are falling now (so they say). My point is, how long do we have to hold up this ideology of greed before this is realised to be destructive to humanity??
its quite shocking, but again as you said, it is not shocking once as if you already are exposed to this idea and having observed first-hand accounts reflecting this trepidition.

Ok, so by your reckoning, all Deaf must be dumb, illiterate, and unemployable and collecting Welfare, right?

Certainly there are physicians who are making a good living in their practice. Some may even be greedy. But there are many of us who have made huge sacrifices, taken out hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans, and pay tens of thousands of dollars in malpractice insurance every year just to eke out a living. We work horrific hours, often give free care, endure the horror, humiliation, expense, and frustration of frivolous lawsuits, to earn $30 on a sick child visit. The reality is, if you want readily available, high quality care, there are expenses tied to that. We have rent for practice sites, salaries for nurses and office staff, all of the above educational and legal expenses, and what thanks do we get. We are maligned in the press, on TV and in chat rooms like this.

I spent 26 years in education learning to be a specialist in my field. I am university based, which means I am at the lowest spectrum of salary for my profession. I have high overhead including taxes to the Dean. I spend unreimbursed hours every day teaching future doctors how to care for the sickest of patients. And the majority of my patients are indeed on some form of public support, be it SSI, SSDI, or Medicaid. However, if a child or family needs interpreter services, they are provided without question.

Please understand that in this economy, some doctors in private practice are barely managing. The amount insurance or Medicaid/Medicare reimburses for an office visit may be as little as $25. Interpreter agencies in this area charge $50-$70 per hour, often with a 1-2 hour limit. I am NOT justifying the refusal of interpreter services to ANYONE, I am simply shedding a little light on the reality of medical practice and the financial hardship that "doing the right thing" may entail. Most doctors are NOT driven by greed, unlike many personal injury attorneys.

All that aside, it is illegal, unethical, and immoral to refuse medical interpretation in the US and Canada, and refusal to provide services should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

And while I'm still on my soapbox, everyone has a responsibility in controlling the cost of healthcare. Practice preventative medicine. Stop self-abusive and destructive behaviors, starting with obesity and smoking, and including moderation in alcohol intake. Get sufficient exercise. Do not use the Emergency Department as a substitute for your primary care doctor. And do not insist on antibiotics for the common cold or every little ailment.

A little free advice from a not so greedy doctor.

*steps down off soapbox*
 
To see a new doctor for the first time cost 400 dollars on Medicare. It cost approximately 60 dollars per visit after the first visitation.

A chiropractor or maybe Naturopathic doctor cost about 40 dollars for per visitation. I don't know what is their price for the first visitation.


You are right about this: "Get sufficient exercise. Do not use the Emergency Department as a substitute for your primary care doctor. And do not insist on antibiotics for the common cold or every little ailment."
 
All that aside, it is illegal, unethical, and immoral to refuse medical interpretation in the US and Canada, and refusal to provide services should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Agreed!
 
Jenny,

Next time I suggest you to directly contact OIS Emergency After Hours by e-mail with your pager and their email address is OIS@answerplus.ca.

Their website is: After-Hours Emergency Service-The Canadian Hearing Society if you want to get more information about their service in case.

Be forewarned, sometimes they respond so slowly and occasionally they do provide a poor service.

On another note, the sad thing is some hospitals in Canada have kept ignoring the 1997 Supreme Court of Canada ruling on Sue Eldridge case. Here's a link about this ruling: Supreme Court of Canada - Decisions - Eldridge v. British Columbia (Attorney General)
 
reply to deafdoc

Ok, so by your reckoning, all Deaf must be dumb, illiterate, and unemployable and collecting Welfare, right?

Wrong, this is a Bad start, and I beg your pardon!
This is a sure fire way to grab attention and stretch it down to make a mickey out of me. I ask you, Where the hell do you get this from? where is it that i implied, nor hinted this ridiculous assumption, i havent, obviously, this is conjured up out of thin air.

Its so erroneous. Dead Wrong. I dont believe that, however we ARE left behind,(thats my opinion and that is, I do have an academic opinion as well as personal but for the sake of this thread I do not wish to expound on it) Except i might say this, it is even the those involved Deaf politics actually do a good job keeping many in the dark simply because they want power to themselves. (its the truth) - I've seen it first hand and second hand. it just the way the world moving to, after englightenment (of the d/Deaf following the 1988 revolt, the political and cultural climate in the Deaf world is forever changed. But lets get back to this thread.
What a way to a start a reply, a clever ploy to distract away from the direct reply in so doing painting a wrong picture of Me, shrugs, is it?, shall we go on?

Certainly there are physicians who are making a good living in their practice. Some may even be greedy. But there are many of us who have made huge sacrifices, taken out hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans, and pay tens of thousands of dollars in malpractice insurance every year just to eke out a living. We work horrific hours, often give free care, endure the horror, humiliation, expense, and frustration of frivolous lawsuits, to earn $30 on asick child visit.


Yes, I have seen House alot, it showed this quite bit (in between lines and sometimes explicitly) as does many hospital dramas. but again thats TV (oh not to mention two of my nearest in the family are in the medical industry). What huge scarifices, yes this is acknowledgable. I also know about loans for study, its not just affecting doctors-students. It is crucial to note that I am quite astute at discerning the difference between reality and representation in the media.

The reality is, if you want readily available, high quality care, there are expenses tied to that. We have rent for practice sites, salaries for nurses and office staff, all of the above educational and legal expenses, and what thanks do we get. We are maligned in the press, on TV and in chat rooms like this.
yes TV is famous for giving what is called misrepresentation of reality, press is often responsible for conveying falsity, it happens all the time. this is not a chatrooms, it is a forum but similar effect you might say, id incline to agree, many guessitmates are taken as gospels. Much of it is socially contrued as the myrid of layers can make interpretations of what we read, see, hear, shapes the way we think, hence sets up how we understands.

I spent 26 years in education learning to be a specialist in my field. I am university based, which means I am at the lowest spectrum of salary for my profession. I have high overhead including taxes to the Dean. I spend unreimbursed hours every day teaching future doctors how to care for the sickest of patients. And the majority of my patients are indeed on some form of public support, be it SSI, SSDI, or Medicaid. However, if a child or family needs interpreter services, they are provided without question./QUOTE]

I believe you, no doubt thats quite a long time to study, obviously you would have a big overhead to manage, sorry to learn this but yes you wanted to study. In support of your quest for excellenty in striving to help people as you do, I dont think these extremely high overheads are justifiable, and it can be reduced but the whole thing in managements of med schools, and such are not immune to high costs of specialist equipments used for teaching as well as all sorts of other costs admins, but i am sure other would digress.

Please understand that in this economy, some doctors in private practice are barely managing. The amount insurance or Medicaid/Medicare reimburses for an office visit may be as little as $25. Interpreter agencies in this area charge $50-$70 per hour, often with a 1-2 hour limit. I am NOT justifying the refusal of interpreter services to ANYONE, I am simply shedding a little light on the reality of medical practice and the financial hardship that "doing the right thing" may entail. Most doctors are NOT driven by greed, unlike many personal injury attorneys.

I understand economy, some-only doctors are greedy (or somewhat forced to justify but not realising its all part of the big picture) and to that other side of the continuum, they prefer to keep quiet (and probably having a few good luck to get rid of THEIR big overheads (no one would really blame them - in one angle of looking at this situation, but when tipped around you see a different picture - the whole thing is tied up like a massive catch-22, stemming from this 'economic obligation' we are all bidded by 'law' to maintain.
Most doctors?? id say some, if not most. I agreed about attorneys, they do NOTHING but use their silver tongues and wit to mount up their fees. not only lawyers, but also the actual suppliers of medical equipments, and chemicals for pharmaceutical drugs and Anesthesia. These are frighteningly Expensive, and whats more much of these rely on petroluem which are in now a dire situation that is facing pending oil depletion. Finding alternatives to replace these and maintain similar effects (or indeed most likely have to exhibit an exact chemical reaction in the body (oh boy i dunno how they gonna do this but...).
there is untold numbers of scientists, laboratory technicians, hazardous goods storage (that can get expensive too), and handlers, distributors, chemical engineers, research pathologists (to affirm of new chemicals are safe, etc etc ) the medical care isnt reduced to just a hospital building (that itself is still quite interesting from a structural/civil engineering perspective) there are far reaching chains of involvment in this medicine industry. So, with all this much behind the scene of those dwell and work at hospitals, private practioners offices, it is clear that is it more than just merely doctors salaries.
Indeed you are right, long hours is common and I should grant alot of respect to doctors (that i do now) here the quote i find in the wiki (ok some says it unreliable information, if purely used for university, they yes its a no-no, other sources are sought, however here goes;
Surgical training in the U.S. requires a minimum of five years of residency after medical school. Sub-specialties of surgery often require seven or more years. In addition, fellowships can last an additional one to three years. Because post-residency fellowships can be competitive, many trainees devote two additional years to research. Thus in some cases surgical training will not finish until more than a decade after medical school. Furthermore, surgical training can be very difficult and time consuming. A surgical resident's average work week is approximately 75 hours. Some subspecialties of surgery, such as neurosurgery, require even longer hours, and utilize an extension to the 80 hour regulated work week, allowing up to 88 hours per week. Many surgical programs still exceed this work hour limit. Attempts to limit the amount of hours worked has been difficult because of the large volume of patients who require surgical care, the limited amount of resources (including a shortage of people willing to enter into surgery as a career)
so yes im not going to dispute this with you, and i never intended to, not even before, as i knew this, as my father was a RN for a psychiatric hospital, as a child i understood this, and the whys he is not home for dinners often and am in awe at this dedication.

All that aside, it is illegal, unethical, and immoral to refuse medical interpretation in the US and Canada, and refusal to provide services should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

indeed, but they still continue if it 'fits' until the whistle is blown at some point (like this one in this thread).

And while I'm still on my soapbox, everyone has a responsibility in controlling the cost of healthcare. Practice preventative medicine. Stop self-abusive and destructive behaviors, starting with obesity and smoking, and including moderation in alcohol intake. Get sufficient exercise. Do not use the Emergency Department as a substitute for your primary care doctor. And do not insist on antibiotics for the common cold or every little ailment.

A little free advice from a not so greedy doctor.

*steps down off soapbox*

guilty of use ED once, but , BUT my ear is extremely sensitive , when I get infection, my tinnitus goes from bad to nightmare and its relentless it lasts for months, so I think i wasnt abusive to the system, so they syringyed out the wax,deadskin, that piled at the drum, after that I'm safe. Ive only done this once, i did debated (in my head) is this silly but my ear is hurting i know in the after hours, waiting till next day could be nasty (as it was from experience). but other than that you are right, we should practice in being sensible and being practical.
i dont smoke, do drugs, drink whisky in a very seldom manner (usually after i done the essay then id just have 2 nips and lie down)
I would like to say, i truely admire and acknowledge that your dedication in being a doctor, as well as being deaf, and being a user of a wheelchair.
I commend you. I dont assume.
 
Sorry i missed your post before, I just saw it (my mind is tad clearer now (so i saw your post whilst reading it in without thinking 'oh another irrelevant post'- theres just too many to read so i kind of got forced into 'selective reading' wonder how common this is), must be the state of it, i was under stress due to essays) and would like to say I liked your post, it is excellent. It is so spot-on, yup the prority it seems, to be swaying over the money before care. Its quite disturbing and I wonder how far down do we have to go (put up with this) before the doctors starts to realise how greedy they were in their medical ambitions (and thus how finanical gains affected the whole thing), it's really scary when you ponder on this sort of thing. in this world, being already over crowded and there is still lots of misleading ideas in the media which promote procreation along with "normal" lifestyle which a certain way of looking at what kind of property people ought to strive to score. All this mentality distracts all those tied in the medical feild away from this realisation their greed affects all. Granted there are worse examples of greed like those CEOs, CFOs, PRs in the top-level of corporates but they are falling now (so they say). My point is, how long do we have to hold up this ideology of greed before this is realised to be destructive to humanity??
its quite shocking, but again as you said, it is not shocking once as if you already are exposed to this idea and having observed first-hand accounts reflecting this trepidition.

I would love to see this on the news! I bet there are more HOH and deaf people that had this happen to them! The hearing public has NO IDEA what is like not being able to hear! We have to made our voices LOUDER than the hearing public to be notice and to let them know we have RIGHTS!
 
Wrong, this is a Bad start, and I beg your pardon!
This is a sure fire way to grab attention and stretch it down to make a mickey out of me. I ask you, Where the hell do you get this from? where is it that i implied, nor hinted this ridiculous assumption, i havent, obviously, this is conjured up out of thin air.

Grummer, this was in NO way a personal assault to you or your intelligence, it was merely an analogy to the statement that "doctors are greedy". Please accept my apologies if this reference offended you, it was not my intent. I was merely pointing out the dangers of generalizing a stereotype to an entire population, be it doctors, lawyers, or the Deaf.
 
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