DOJ: Hospital failed to provide interpreter for deaf mother during birth
The Department of Justice announced it has reached an ADA discrimination settlement with a hospital in Georgia called AdventHealth-Gordon over a deaf mother’s complaint that the hospital failed to provide an ASL interpreter or any other communication aid or service during her labor and delivery of a baby. The deaf mother said she was forced to rely on lip reading and that her deaf companion also struggled with communication. The deaf mother said she did not understand why she did not get an epidural and suffered significant pain. The mother and her companion said they were not able to get important information about a complication during the delivery, which created fear and confusion for both, and that the communication breakdowns continued after the birth.
[Sponsored Video from Convo: https://www.convorelay.com/download ]
The DOJ said the settlement will require the hospital to inform patients that they have a right to auxiliary aids or services, which includes a live qualified sign language interpreter, whether through video or on-site. The hospital will also pay $50,000 to the patient and $10,000 to her companion. The DOJ’s press release did not identify the deaf individuals.