A certain dear friend of mine is one of the plaintiffs, I'm glad that she is doing something to put the fear of God in folks who mistreated Deaf patients when they needed the medical help.
R-
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Laurel Hospital Faces Lawsuit
Mistreatment Of Deaf Patients Among Allegations
By Allison Klein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 20, 2005; Page GZ21
A federal lawsuit filed last week contends that Laurel Regional Hospital has violated the rights of its deaf patients by not having sign language interpreters available during medical consultations and claims that several deaf patients were harmed by faulty communication with hospital emergency room staff.
"Patients were forced to communicate through cryptic notes or lip-reading," according to the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. "Even the best lip-readers, in an ideal one-to-one situation, have been found to understand only 26 percent of what is said."
The suit says that the hospital violates the Americans With Disabilities Act and asks that it provide sign language interpreters for patients. It also seeks an unspecified amount of money for "humiliation, embarrassment and emotional pain and suffering." Passed in 1990, the ADA requires that owners of public places offer the disabled the same goods and services as the rest of the public.
Through a spokeswoman, hospital officials declined to comment.
The suit contends that deaf patients were not able to get satisfactory answers to their medical questions or fully understand their diagnoses. Laurel Regional Hospital is in Prince George's County, which has a significant deaf population and is the closest suburb to Gallaudet University in Northeast Washington, which serves deaf students. The hospital also serves Howard, Montgomery and Anne Arundel counties, according to its Web site.
The suit alleges that six patients, whose stories were detailed, did not receive adequate medical treatment because hospital staff could not communicate with them. In some cases, the patients were offered a video conferencing technology that provides a sign language interpreter in a remote location. But they found it to be insufficient and confusing, the suit says. In each case, the patient was denied a live interpreter.
One deaf patient, Erin Whitney, who lived in College Park in April, went to the hospital's emergency room when she was vomiting and fainting. Once at the hospital, she laid down on a bed and was mistreated by a hospital worker, according to the suit.
"A member of the hospital staff, who did not know that Ms. Whitney was deaf, became angry with Ms. Whitney for lying on the bed, then hit Ms. Whitney in the knee, twisted her arm and dragged her off the bed," the suit alleges.
A doctor thought she might have had meningitis and performed a spinal tap procedure without her consent, the suit says. After the procedure, patients are generally told to lay flat for several hours to avoid complications.
"In Ms. Whitney's case, shortly after her spinal tap procedure was complete, and absent any instruction to remain still, Ms. Whitney moved," the suit says. "She subsequently experienced, and continues to suffer from, among other problems, headaches, nausea, faintness and imbalance."
Another deaf patient, Elizabeth Gillespie, who lives two miles from the hospital, went to the emergency room in November 2003 with her deaf husband because she had severe abdominal pain and was vomiting. The hospital staff insisted on communicating verbally rather than through written notes, the suit says. A doctor told her she had an enlarged heart and needed a CT scan.
"They did not fully understand the doctor's diagnosis or the medical treatment she was going to receive," according to the suit.
One of the lawyers who filed the suit, E. Elaine Gardner of the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, said that live interpreters in hospitals are a fairly new practice.
At least one area hospital, Howard County General, offers on-call live interpreters who can be at the facility within 30 minutes, said hospital spokeswoman Tanya Brown.
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Monday, January 24, 2005
Deaflympics 2005 in Melbourne
I just completed watching a movie segment on a particular website.
It is what I suspected all along, the President of CISS, Dr. Donalda Ammons confirmed that the 2005 Deaflympics in Melbourne is the best one in the history of Deaflympics.
Nice to know that they bounce off the worst one in Rome for the best one in Melbourne.
I also learned the sign name for Taipei! The next destination for the Deaflympics are in Taipei, Taiwan in 2009.
When I watched the whole segment, I felt goosebumps. For the last time, congratulations to Aussies for a well done performance!!
Enjoy the movie!
R-
Mom Is Gonna Kill Me
I'm bit bored. Since I occasionally mentioned about my mother's antics, I thought it is necessary to get people to see her face -- to know where I came from.
Enjoy.
R-
Mom & Dad
Enjoy.
R-
"Let's Kick Ass!"
In Tomatina, Spain, there is a festival that happens every year where thousands of people threw the rotten tomatoes on each other. When they are done with it, they cleaned up the area.
Somewhere in Italy, the villagers once went crazy and threw stones at some important people to their deaths. And then, they celebrated the festival with an annual fight of stoning with each other ... not using the stones but oranges. Sure enough, lots of people got bruises and it is a way to release their tensions. Women, children, men -- all picked up many oranges and threw it on each other.
I thought it was great idea.
Here is a suggestion to have a festival in Washington, DC -- let's set up something in Freedom Plaza and distribute the apples to individuals where we all can throw and bash people's heads off.
How's that?
*picking up the apples and throw it hard on Republicans and conservatives*
R-
Somewhere in Italy, the villagers once went crazy and threw stones at some important people to their deaths. And then, they celebrated the festival with an annual fight of stoning with each other ... not using the stones but oranges. Sure enough, lots of people got bruises and it is a way to release their tensions. Women, children, men -- all picked up many oranges and threw it on each other.
I thought it was great idea.
Here is a suggestion to have a festival in Washington, DC -- let's set up something in Freedom Plaza and distribute the apples to individuals where we all can throw and bash people's heads off.
How's that?
*picking up the apples and throw it hard on Republicans and conservatives*
R-
Sunday, January 23, 2005
A Vicious Cycle
I was outside watching people digging the snow. I find it very amusing. I'm thankful I do not own a car in Manhattan. It is vicious cycle!!
When the snowplow trucks plowed the excessive snow on the roads onto the cars that parked by the sidewalk, the excessive snow partially buried the cars. That is not even all.
Then the folks digged the snow off the sidewalk, and dumped the snow on the cars.
Then folks needed to use the cars, so they dig the snow OFF their cars back on the road and on the sidwalk ...
Such a vicious cycle.
Sometimes I wish we could have some kind of heated sidewalk but again, that would be too vicious cycle because during the night time, it will freeze and people will fall and knock themselves out in the process. Such is a life in the Wintry Wonderland.
Cheers,
R-
When the snowplow trucks plowed the excessive snow on the roads onto the cars that parked by the sidewalk, the excessive snow partially buried the cars. That is not even all.
Then the folks digged the snow off the sidewalk, and dumped the snow on the cars.
Then folks needed to use the cars, so they dig the snow OFF their cars back on the road and on the sidwalk ...
Such a vicious cycle.
Sometimes I wish we could have some kind of heated sidewalk but again, that would be too vicious cycle because during the night time, it will freeze and people will fall and knock themselves out in the process. Such is a life in the Wintry Wonderland.
Cheers,
R-
Bush Is Overrated -- So Is Cheney!
Bush is funny man. Each time he bellows his comments, he often made me smile, snicker or roll my eyes.
During his 17-minute inaugural speech, he bellowed "freedom" 27 times and "liberty" 15 times. What a true American Patriot.
But a certain commentator named Calvin pointed the irony which I agreed completely with him:
"The more disturbing part to me at least was rambling on about liberty and freedom in the middle of a 100 square block security bubble, complete with snipers, anti-aircraft batteries, thousands of police and military. Forget irony, has this country lost it's collective fucking mind? The emperor not only has no clothes he is performing some sort of perverted act live on stage and everyone keeps saying how nice it all is."
And it is amusing that the Bush Administration spent millions of dollars to "fortize" the District of Columbia during the Inauguration Day and yet, even with millions of dollars and technological advances cannot stop a simple assault on Cheney's limousine.
Says a lot about our national security, really.
R-
During his 17-minute inaugural speech, he bellowed "freedom" 27 times and "liberty" 15 times. What a true American Patriot.
But a certain commentator named Calvin pointed the irony which I agreed completely with him:
"The more disturbing part to me at least was rambling on about liberty and freedom in the middle of a 100 square block security bubble, complete with snipers, anti-aircraft batteries, thousands of police and military. Forget irony, has this country lost it's collective fucking mind? The emperor not only has no clothes he is performing some sort of perverted act live on stage and everyone keeps saying how nice it all is."
And it is amusing that the Bush Administration spent millions of dollars to "fortize" the District of Columbia during the Inauguration Day and yet, even with millions of dollars and technological advances cannot stop a simple assault on Cheney's limousine.
Says a lot about our national security, really.
R-
Saturday, January 22, 2005
Who Actually Practices the So-Called “Crab Theory”???
Editor's Note: I got the request from a certain reader who wanted to respond to Kurzetard's lies on her blogsite. So I am posing this for this person.
R-
* * *
“Crab Theory” is quite an interesting topic. In fact, a deaf (small “d”) woman, a formerly Iowa resident who moved away (actually, she “ran away”) to Florida, made a reference of this topic from Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center’s brochure to argue that the crab theory is widely practiced in the Deaf community. As everyone knows, the crab theory is used everywhere – no matter Deaf or hearing!
The irony is that this same woman who cries the “Crab Theory” on the Deaf community actually practices this concept in her blog. She uses her abusive style to make personal attacks and lies on certain individuals for no apparent reasons.
It is apparent (and unfortunate) that she has a such uncontrollable jealous nature that has driven her into obsessive tendency. She had moved away to Florida and she ought to move on, yet she still obsesses over certain Deaf Iowans. Why? “Crab Theory!”
In that brochure, it states that Crab Theory is a “destructive practice of Deaf people pulling and putting down successful Deaf persons. This is done through vicious gossip (back-stabbing), spreading false rumors (slander), sending hateful e-mails, etc.” This deaf woman who now resides in Tampa area harbors resentment toward strong Deaf people just because their parents are Deaf. Many of her statements in her blog have reflected her as being a very angry person with personality problems.
It is such a pity that this woman truly resents the fact that those certain Deaf Iowans are successful and are in desirable positions – so much that she felt the need of going to extreme measure (lowering her level) to insult and abuse other people in order to make herself feel good. It is truly fascinating to see all of her unproven theories that explain why many people do not like her. The simple reason that many Deaf people (both from Deaf and hearing parents) do not like this woman is because she is very negative person and we do not like to associate with this type of people.
Deaf Iowans and everyone else, just ignore her as she is without a social class and she will feel worse because she fails to stir up reactions from you. Let her make a fool out of herself with all negative statements in her blog which have already showed true colors of herself as a downright mean-spirited, bitter and malicious person. Unless she comes to accept herself and her serious problems and apologize to certain individuals, she will never be able to put aside her jealousy and obsessive nature. In the end, her character becomes the “Crab Theory” on herself!
Here's Kurzetard
R-
* * *
“Crab Theory” is quite an interesting topic. In fact, a deaf (small “d”) woman, a formerly Iowa resident who moved away (actually, she “ran away”) to Florida, made a reference of this topic from Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center’s brochure to argue that the crab theory is widely practiced in the Deaf community. As everyone knows, the crab theory is used everywhere – no matter Deaf or hearing!
The irony is that this same woman who cries the “Crab Theory” on the Deaf community actually practices this concept in her blog. She uses her abusive style to make personal attacks and lies on certain individuals for no apparent reasons.
It is apparent (and unfortunate) that she has a such uncontrollable jealous nature that has driven her into obsessive tendency. She had moved away to Florida and she ought to move on, yet she still obsesses over certain Deaf Iowans. Why? “Crab Theory!”
In that brochure, it states that Crab Theory is a “destructive practice of Deaf people pulling and putting down successful Deaf persons. This is done through vicious gossip (back-stabbing), spreading false rumors (slander), sending hateful e-mails, etc.” This deaf woman who now resides in Tampa area harbors resentment toward strong Deaf people just because their parents are Deaf. Many of her statements in her blog have reflected her as being a very angry person with personality problems.
It is such a pity that this woman truly resents the fact that those certain Deaf Iowans are successful and are in desirable positions – so much that she felt the need of going to extreme measure (lowering her level) to insult and abuse other people in order to make herself feel good. It is truly fascinating to see all of her unproven theories that explain why many people do not like her. The simple reason that many Deaf people (both from Deaf and hearing parents) do not like this woman is because she is very negative person and we do not like to associate with this type of people.
Deaf Iowans and everyone else, just ignore her as she is without a social class and she will feel worse because she fails to stir up reactions from you. Let her make a fool out of herself with all negative statements in her blog which have already showed true colors of herself as a downright mean-spirited, bitter and malicious person. Unless she comes to accept herself and her serious problems and apologize to certain individuals, she will never be able to put aside her jealousy and obsessive nature. In the end, her character becomes the “Crab Theory” on herself!
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