FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CRT

MONDAY, JULY 14, 2006 (202) 514-2007

WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888

Justice Department Resolves Litigation

with Laurel Regional Hospital to
Ensure Effective Communication with
People who are Deaf or Hard of
Hearing
WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice today announced a comprehensive
consent decree under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with Laurel
Regional Hospital, a community hospital serving the Maryland suburbs of
Washington. The hospital has agreed to ensure effective communication with
patients or companions who are deaf or hard of hearing.

“Patients and their families need to be able to communicate with medical providers
for proper diagnosis and treatment,” said Wan J. Kim, Assistant Attorney General
for the Civil Rights Division. “I commend the Laurel Regional Hospital for working
with us, and I hope that this agreement will be a model for other hospitals to make
certain that individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing have the same access to
medical care and treatment.”

The consent decree, filed in federal court in Greenbelt, Md., resolves allegations that
on several occasions the hospital did not appropriately respond to requests to
provide qualified sign language interpreters or other auxiliary aids for patients or
companions. For example, the Department’s complaint alleged that the hospital
refused to communicate with a deaf woman whose son, an emergency department
patient, was in and out of consciousness and that a former patient who was
discharged did not understand her diagnosis or treatment recommendations and,
which resulted in her being rushed to another hospital shortly thereafter to receive
medical treatment there.

Today’s agreement in Gillespie and United States v. Dimensions Health Corporation

resolves a lawsuit by several individual plaintiffs, in which the Department of
Justice intervened.

Under the decree, the hospital will assess the communication needs of individuals
with speech or hearing impairments upon their arrival or at the time an appointment
is scheduled; provide qualified interpreters (on-site or video interpreting) as soon as
possible (and within specified time limits) when necessary for effective
communication, especially in circumstances involving lengthy or complex
interactions such as admissions and detailed discussions of symptoms, diagnosis,
and treatment; provide auxiliary aids, when needed, to companions as well as to
patients; and meet certain standards for video interpreting services, including high-
quality, clear, delay-free, full motion video and audio over a dedicated high-speed
Internet connection.

This is the Department’s first agreement that includes criteria for video interpreting
services (videophones). Through these services, which are becoming more
frequently used in various settings, an off-site interpreter appears through video
conference technology over high-speed Internet lines. These services must be
carefully monitored in hospital settings where, for example, patients with certain
medical conditions or injuries may not be able to use their arms or be positioned
appropriately to view the screen or to perform sign language.

“Effective communication is particularly critical in the health care setting,” said Rod
J. Rosenstein, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland. “We are committed to
ensuring that individuals with disabilities or their families are not subjected to
unequal treatment because of poor communication with medical personnel about
their symptoms, diagnoses and treatment.”

Title III of the ADA applies to private entities such as hospitals and other medical
care facilities and, among other things, requires that private entities such as
hospitals ensure effective communication with persons with speech, hearing, and
vision impairments.

People interested in finding out more about the ADA or the agreement can call the
Justice Department's toll-free ADA Information Line at 1-800-514-0301 or 1-800-
514-0383 (TTY), or access its ADA website at http://www.ada.gov.

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