Saturday, March 31, 2012

Hospital Settles for 200k

An Iowa hospital will pay nearly $200,000 for failing to provide interpreters for deaf patients. The settlement comes out of a lawsuit from Jessie Fox. Her 7 year old daughter, Addison, was headed into surgery at Trinity Regional Medical Center in 2009. The hospital staff ignored Fox's request for an interpreter and instead, had Addison interpret for mother. This led to confusion about post-surgery medication. Two other deaf patients joined the lawsuit, saying they had faced a similar situations at the hospital. Trinity says it will change its procedures and offer VRI services or in-person interpreters.