Funds from hospital fines goes towards community interpreters
I read about an unique case in south Florida in which a hospital that was ordered to pay about $16,000 in fines for ADA violations involving a deaf woman was instructed to write the check to a nonprofit organization so it could provide about 270 hours of community interpreting services for deaf people in situations where an interpreter typically isn’t provided, such as job interviews, weddings, funerals, or community meetings.
The Palm Beach Post and NBC 6 Miami did news reports and I will recap the case from the beginning.
In December 2018, a deaf woman named Rose Adams went to a Cleveland Clinic facility in Weston, Florida to get treatment for a problem with her red blood cells. Adams thought she would only be inside for a few hours for a blood transfusion, but she ended up staying at the hospital overnight and for a total of six days — and she didn’t understand what was going on because she wasn’t provided with an interpreter, even after she asked for one repeatedly. Here is a short clip from NBC 6 Miami.
(Deaf News Video 2)
[Video clip from NBC 6 Miami showing Adams expressing her frustration at not getting an interpreter. She said she screamed on the second day, didn’t know what drugs she was getting, and that she felt like she was being treated like a dog or a rat.]
(Deaf News Video 3)
(Continue 7.1 PIP)
Alex: After this ordeal, Adams filed a federal lawsuit claiming violations of the ADA. In November 2020, Adams’ attorney Matthew Dietz managed to reach a settlement with the hospital to avoid a trial with an agreement that hospital staff be trained to provide interpreters upon request.
In February, U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz held the hospital in contempt of court for failing to implement training for staff to provide interpreters and said the hospital would be fined $1,000 a day until it complied with the judge’s order. NBC 6 reported that according to court records, the hospital did obey the judge’s order and implemented training but had to pay about $15,000 in fines.
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The judge ordered the clinic to write the check to the Center for Independent Living of Broward County so the organization could provide community interpreters for situations where interpreters aren’t legally required to be provided, which I mentioned earlier. It was Adams’ request that the organization receive the money from the hospital fines. Adams told the Post, “There are so many different circumstances where deaf people aren’t provided with interpreters” and that “there is a great need for interpreters out in the community.” As mentioned earlier, the money would pay for about 270 hours of interpreting services, which translates to about $55 an hour.
Adams said she’s since moved to a different hospital and is getting the medical care she needs.
So, although this case is something that the Deaf community experiences often — being denied an ASL interpreter and being discriminated against — the resolution is unique in that it resulted in 270 hours of community interpreting being provided to the local Deaf community. Is there a need for more funding for community interpreting? It’s something for us to ponder.
https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/deaf-patients-lawsuit-leads-to-more-asl-interpreters/2737315/