The United States has reached an agreement with Frankfort Regional Medical Center (FRMC), a 173-bed hospital in Frankfort, including civil penalties totaling over $170,000, to resolve allegations that FRMC violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), by failing to ensure effective communication with a deaf patient who uses American Sign Language (ASL).
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky, at multiple hospital visits during her pregnancy, FRMC failed to provide the patient with an ASL interpreter or other effective means of communication. Additionally, despite her request for an in-person interpreter during her labor and delivery, the patient had to provide her own interpreter for her cesarean section.
FRMC also failed to ensure effective communication during the patient’s recovery stay, and during a subsequent hospital visit when she sought treatment for her infant. Moreover, FRMC failed to provide an interpreter or other appropriate auxiliary aids and services to the patient’s mother, who is also deaf and was attending the patient’s labor and delivery as a support person. FRMC cooperated fully with the United States’ investigation of this matter, which substantiated the patient’s allegations.
Under the terms of its agreement with the United States, FRMC will pay a $62,500 civil penalty to the United States, $100,000 to the patient and $10,000 to her mother.
The hospital also agreed to modify its policies and practices consistent with the ADA, including those that address providing effective communication and securing qualified interpreters for patients; will train its staff and inform affiliated medical providers about the policies; will report any future complaints; and will cooperate with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to ensure ongoing compliance.
“It is critical that patients who are deaf or hard of hearing have equal access to healthcare, which includes having the ability to communicate with their healthcare providers,” said U.S. Attorney Carlton S. Shier, IV. “This settlement reflects our ongoing commitment to protecting the rights of those who are deaf or hard of hearing and ensuring that they are able to effectively participate in discussions and decisions regarding their health care.”
The case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Pond and investigators from the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Affirmative Civil Enforcement Section, in coordination with the Disability Rights Section of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.
FRMC is owned by HCA Healthcare, based in Nashville, Tennessee.
By Tom Latek, Kentucky Today
