Gillespie v. Dimensions Health Corp.

369 F. Supp. 2d 636, 16 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 1401, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9130, 2005 WL 1147830
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedMay 16, 2005
DocketCIV.A. DKC 2005-0073
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 369 F. Supp. 2d 636 (Gillespie v. Dimensions Health Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gillespie v. Dimensions Health Corp., 369 F. Supp. 2d 636, 16 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 1401, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9130, 2005 WL 1147830 (D. Md. 2005).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION.

CHASANOW, District Judge.

Presently pending and ready for resolution in this disability discrimination action is. the motion by Defendant Dimensions Health Corporation d/b/a Laurel Regional Hospital to dismiss count I of Plaintiffs’ complaint 1 (Paper 10) pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). The issues have been fully briefed and the court now rules, no hearing being deemed necessary. Local Rule 105.6. For the following reasons, Defendant’s motion will be granted in part and denied in part.

I. Background

A. Factual Background

The following facts have been alleged by Plaintiffs Elizabeth Gillespie, David Irvine, Erin Whitney, Cary Barbin, Kathryn Hale, Brian Leffler, and Xiomara Porras. Plaintiffs are deaf individuals who have sought and received medical treatment at Defendant Laurel Regional Hospital (“Laurel Regional”) either for themselves, or, in one instance, for a child. To communicate effectively in medical situations, Plaintiffs require a live, qualified sign language interpreter. On multiple occasions when Plaintiffs visited Laurel Regional independent from one another, they made repeated requests for the assistance of a live and in-person, qualified sign language interpreter to enable them to communicate effectively with hospital personnel in order to participate in their medical treatment. On each occasion, despite specific and repeated requests for live interpreter services, the hospital refused to comply with Plaintiffs’ requests. Rather, on several occasions, Plaintiffs were forced “to communicate through cryptic notes or lip-reading, ... an extremely speculative means of *638 communication.” Paper 20, ¶ 4. Additionally, in some instances, rather than communicating with an in-person interpreter, Plaintiffs were able to utilize a Video Remote Interpreting (“VRI”) device, which proved to be an insufficient mode of communication. 2

For example, on November 1, 2003, Plaintiff Elizabeth Gillespie, accompanied by her hearing impaired husband, Plaintiff David Irvine, sought medical treatment at Laurel Regional’s emergency room for, among other things, severe abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting. After being admitted due to her serious medical condition, both she and her husband requested a live, in-person interpreter in order to communicate with the doctors, nurses, and hospital staff. Plaintiffs were told the hospital did not have any sign language interpreters. After some time had passed, and repeated requests for an interpreter went unanswered, Gillespie and Irvine were informed that the hospital had a VRI device they could utilize. However, the device was unavailable at that time because it was being used by another patient. Approximately two hours later, Gillespie was moved to the room containing the VRI device, but, in the interim, she alleges she was unable to communicate with the hospital staff and did not understand the medical advice or treatment she received during that time period. Moreover, after moving her to the room with the VRI, it took the hospital staff approximately twenty to thirty minutes to set up the device due to “improper! ] and inadequate! ] training.]” Paper 20, ¶ 21. Once the VRI device was operational, Gillespie and Irvine engaged in an approximate ten minute consultation with the doctor, during which time he informed her that he did not know what was causing her pain, and that he was ordering an x-ray and, possibly, a CT-scan.

Following this consultation, and during all subsequent tests, procedures, and doctor consultations, Laurel Regional failed and/or refused to provide access to the VRI device, and denied Gillespie and Irvine’s repeated requests for a live sign language interpreter or an effective alternative mode of communication. Rather, the hospital staff insisted on speaking verbally to Gillespie and Irvine despite the fact that Irvine cannot read lips and Gillespie’s ability to read lips was compromised by her medical condition. Occasionally, the hospital staff would write notes to communicate with Gillespie and Irvine, but only “in a few select and extreme circumstances and only after Ms. Gillespie begged and continuously motioned for some sort of communication.” Id., ¶ 22. Even then, the hospital staff limited its writing to a “few words.” Id.

After the initial x-ray, a doctor returned and verbally informed them that Gillespie had an enlarged heart and that she would need to undergo a CT-scan. Because this information was communicated only verbally, Plaintiffs “did not fully understand the doctor’s diagnosis or the medical treatment [Gillespie] was going to receive.” Id., ¶ 23. After a few hours had elapsed, a male hospital attendant arrived to take Gillespie to the CT-scan room. Neither Gillespie nor Irvine could understand the attendant’s instructions to them, nor the *639 procedure which she was about to undergo. Further, despite repeatedly indicating to the attendant their desire to communicate in writing, he refused to comply. Rather, apparently to indicate that Gillespie was to remove some of her clothing for the procedure, the attendant pulled on and snapped her bra strap. Id, ¶ 25. As a result, Gillespie refused to undergo the CT-scan unless a female nurse was present. Eventually, however, Gillespie underwent the procedure.’ •

After a few more hours elapsed, a doctor appeared to inform Gillespie that additional tests were needed to determine the source of the pain. During this consultation, the doctor primarily communicated with Gillespie and Irvine verbally, but, per Irvine’s request, sparsely used written notes. However, these notes were “short, confusing and cryptic.” Id, ¶ 28. At this time, feeling exasperated with her treatment and uninformed about her medical condition due to the hospital’s failure to communicate with Plaintiffs adequately, Gillespie informed the doctor that she wanted to leave. Plaintiffs allege that the doctor “cavalierly recommended that Ms. Gillespie go to another emergency room at a different hospital for treatment.” Moreover, the discharge papers and written materials given to Gillespie upon their departure failed to mention the heart condition which the hospital had earlier detected.

The other Plaintiffs in this action allege similar experiences during their visits to Laurel Regional. All of them requested a live, in-person sign language interpreter in order to communicate effectively with the hospital staff; all of their requests went unfulfilled. In those situations where the VRI device was utilized as an alternative method of communication, it was wholly ineffective, either because the staff was inadequately trained and unable to operate the VRI device, because Plaintiffs were unable to understand the video interpreter due to the poor quality of the video transmission, or both. 3 As a consequence, Plaintiffs content that they have been denied the benefit of

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Bluebook (online)
369 F. Supp. 2d 636, 16 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 1401, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9130, 2005 WL 1147830, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gillespie-v-dimensions-health-corp-mdd-2005.