TN Hospital Settles Terp Suit

A Nashville hospital will pay $19,000 to a deaf man after failing to provide him with an interpreter during his time as a patient at the facility. Michael Gournaris spent four days at Baptist Hospital in 2010 after he suffered stroke-like symptoms. During his stay, the hospital only provided him with an interpreter for five-and-a-half hours. Hospital workers tried to communicate with him through written notes. Even though Baptist maintains it was working within the law and its own policies, it has agreed to better provide interpreters to patients like Gournaris, not to charge patients for those interpreters, to post signs explaining how to get an interpreter, and to train staff members on its new interpreting policies.