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Mercy settles suit over lack of sign-language interpreters | The Des Moines Register | DesMoinesRegister.com
Polly Fullbright wants her husband to be remembered as a courageous man whose last hours were made even more stressful because of a Des Moines hospital’s careless lack of services for deaf people.
J. William Fullbright, 40, of Clive was suffering an inexplicable shortness of breath when his wife rushed him to Mercy Medical Center’s emergency room on a Sunday night in 2008. He and his wife were both deaf, but the hospital did not have a sign-language interpreter available, Polly Fullbright said.
She said she did her best to speak and write notes to the medical staff, but she struggled to keep up with what they were saying about her husband’s sudden collapse. “He kept looking at me, wanting to know what was going on. I felt so inept,” she said today. His breathing problems worsened to the point that staff members put a tube down his throat. The staff kept saying they were trying to find an interpreter, but none arrived by the time William Fullbright died five hours after arriving at the hospital.
The cause of death was a lifelong heart defect that had been undetected before. Polly Fullbright said Mercy staff members gave him good medical care, but she said the lack of an interpreter compounded his fright.
The hospital agreed last week to settle Fullbright’s lawsuit and a similar one brought by the family of a second deaf patient. Mercy leaders promised that from now on, sign-language interpreters will be provided when needed. When feasible, the hospital may use other methods of communication, including video links to interpreters elsewhere, the settlement says.
Polly Fullbright said in her lawsuit that she and an emergency room doctor repeatedly asked Mercy staff members to get a sign-language interpreter. The staff said it couldn’t find either of the two interpreters with which Mercy had contracts, the lawsuit said. Staff members said the hospital would not pay for any other interpreters, the suit said.
Polly Fullbright’s lawsuit said she had a similar experience after being taken to Mercy for abdominal pain and vomiting in February 2009. Mercy provided an interpreter only part of the time, she said, and deaf friends told her they’d had similar experiences.
Polly Fullbright, who leads deaf services for the Des Moines school district, said her husband was a shy person who was less active in deaf-rights issues than she is. But she said he wanted deaf people to have as many opportunities as possible.
He worked as a mailman, which is a rare job for a deaf person, but he managed to befriend people throughout his route in northwest Des Moines, she said.
She hopes the lawsuit brings attention and change. “He would have totally approved of me doing this to help other deaf people,” she said through an interpreter. “He would have been mad at me if I didn’t do it.”
The second lawsuit was filed by Sherry Barnard, who said her mother, Judith Barnard, 69, of Des Moines was not provided with a sign-language interpreter after undergoing a hysterectomy for cancer in April 2008. Sherry Barnard, who works as a sign-language interpreter, said she sometimes provided interpretation for her mother at follow-up appointments. But she said in her lawsuit that she should not have been required to do so, and that Mercy failed to provide an interpreter for other emergency room visits and hospitalizations. On two occasions, the lawsuit said, hospital staff members failed to provide an interpreter when Judith Barnard needed to communicate her pain levels.
Besides the promises to improve its interpretation services, the hospital agreed to pay undisclosed amounts of money to the two families.
Polly Fullbright wants her husband to be remembered as a courageous man whose last hours were made even more stressful because of a Des Moines hospital’s careless lack of services for deaf people.
J. William Fullbright, 40, of Clive was suffering an inexplicable shortness of breath when his wife rushed him to Mercy Medical Center’s emergency room on a Sunday night in 2008. He and his wife were both deaf, but the hospital did not have a sign-language interpreter available, Polly Fullbright said.
She said she did her best to speak and write notes to the medical staff, but she struggled to keep up with what they were saying about her husband’s sudden collapse. “He kept looking at me, wanting to know what was going on. I felt so inept,” she said today. His breathing problems worsened to the point that staff members put a tube down his throat. The staff kept saying they were trying to find an interpreter, but none arrived by the time William Fullbright died five hours after arriving at the hospital.
The cause of death was a lifelong heart defect that had been undetected before. Polly Fullbright said Mercy staff members gave him good medical care, but she said the lack of an interpreter compounded his fright.
The hospital agreed last week to settle Fullbright’s lawsuit and a similar one brought by the family of a second deaf patient. Mercy leaders promised that from now on, sign-language interpreters will be provided when needed. When feasible, the hospital may use other methods of communication, including video links to interpreters elsewhere, the settlement says.
Polly Fullbright said in her lawsuit that she and an emergency room doctor repeatedly asked Mercy staff members to get a sign-language interpreter. The staff said it couldn’t find either of the two interpreters with which Mercy had contracts, the lawsuit said. Staff members said the hospital would not pay for any other interpreters, the suit said.
Polly Fullbright’s lawsuit said she had a similar experience after being taken to Mercy for abdominal pain and vomiting in February 2009. Mercy provided an interpreter only part of the time, she said, and deaf friends told her they’d had similar experiences.
Polly Fullbright, who leads deaf services for the Des Moines school district, said her husband was a shy person who was less active in deaf-rights issues than she is. But she said he wanted deaf people to have as many opportunities as possible.
He worked as a mailman, which is a rare job for a deaf person, but he managed to befriend people throughout his route in northwest Des Moines, she said.
She hopes the lawsuit brings attention and change. “He would have totally approved of me doing this to help other deaf people,” she said through an interpreter. “He would have been mad at me if I didn’t do it.”
The second lawsuit was filed by Sherry Barnard, who said her mother, Judith Barnard, 69, of Des Moines was not provided with a sign-language interpreter after undergoing a hysterectomy for cancer in April 2008. Sherry Barnard, who works as a sign-language interpreter, said she sometimes provided interpretation for her mother at follow-up appointments. But she said in her lawsuit that she should not have been required to do so, and that Mercy failed to provide an interpreter for other emergency room visits and hospitalizations. On two occasions, the lawsuit said, hospital staff members failed to provide an interpreter when Judith Barnard needed to communicate her pain levels.
Besides the promises to improve its interpretation services, the hospital agreed to pay undisclosed amounts of money to the two families.
