Richard Martin v. Halifax Healthcare Systems, Inc.

621 F. App'x 594
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedJuly 31, 2015
Docket14-12771
StatusUnpublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 621 F. App'x 594 (Richard Martin v. Halifax Healthcare Systems, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Richard Martin v. Halifax Healthcare Systems, Inc., 621 F. App'x 594 (11th Cir. 2015).

Opinion

JULIE CARNES, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiffs Richard Martin, John D’Am-brosio, and Yolanda Gervarzes (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) appeal the district court’s order granting summary judgment to Defendants on their disability discrimination claims arising under the Americans with *596 Disabilities Act (the “ADA”) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (the “Rehab Act”). 1 The district court held that there was no evidence from which a reasonable jury might conclude that Plaintiffs were excluded from participating in, or denied the benefit of, the services Defendants provided, or otherwise discriminated against. After a careful review of the record, and with the benefit of oral argument, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

I. Factual Background

Defendants Halifax Healthcare Systems, Inc. and Halifax Community Health Systems own and operate Halifax Hospital Medical Center (“Halifax Hospital” or “the hospital”). The three plaintiffs are deaf individuals who communicate primarily through the use of American Sign Language (“ASL”) and who either were treated or were present with a family member who was treated at Halifax Hospital in the summer of 2011. Plaintiffs claim that they requested live ASL interpreting services at some point during their interaction with the hospital staff. And, as described in more detail below, the hospital did provide several hours of live interpreting services to Plaintiffs D’Ambrosio and Gervarzes, and communicated with all three plaintiffs via written notes. However, the hospital did not provide continuous live interpreting services to D’Ambrosio or Gervarzes throughout the duration of their stay at the hospital, nor did the hospital make a live interpreter available to Plaintiff Martin during his brief emergency room visit. Because the hospital failed to do so, Plaintiffs initiated the present litigation.- We set out, individually, the facts underlying each plaintiffs claim.

A. John D’Ambrosio

Accompanied by girlfriend Sandra Hill, who is also deaf, D’Ambrosio was rushed to the hospital on June 23, 2011, after suffering a major heart attack. Dr. Kirby Haws, one of D’Ambrosio’s treating physicians, testified that D’Ambrosio’s condition upon arrival at the hospital was life threatening. Recognizing that they needed to act fast to save D’Ambrosio’s life, the medical staff quickly determined that D’Am-brosio needed an emergency cardiac cath-eterization, which procedure was soon thereafter performed by Dr. Vance Wilson.

D’Ambrosio and his girlfriend had both requested a live ASL interpreter immediately upon their arrival at the hospital. And, in fact, hospital staff contacted SLS Interpreting Services to request an interpreter, informing D’Ambrosio that a live interpreter was on the way. But once it was determined that D’Ambrosio needed an immediate, emergency cardiac catheter-ization, staff canceled the request for an interpreter.

As to the time spent with D’Ambrosio before the catheterization, Dr. Haws and Dr. Wilson testified that they were able to communicate effectively with him, notwithstanding the absence of a live interpreter. Dr. Haws stated that he used the “LifeL-inks” video remote interpreting (“LifeL-inks”) system to advise D’Ambrosio about his condition and the catheterization procedure and that he communicated with D’Ambrosio’s girlfriend through a combination of lip-reading, gestures, and written *597 notes. 2 Dr. Haws did not recall D’Ambro-sio requesting a live interpreter prior to the procedure, and he did not believe that a live interpreter was necessary.

Dr. Wilson similarly indicated in his written report that he used a “translator” in the catheterization lab to inform D’Am-brosio that he was “having a heart attack and that we were going to have to open up his heart artery with a catheter.” Dr. Wilson did not write notes to D’Ambrosio prior to or during the procedure due to the need to keep the catheterization lab ster-ilei Nonetheless, Dr. Wilson did use hand gestures to let D’Ambrosio know that he was okay and to remind him that he needed to be still during the procedure. Dr. Wilson testified that D’Ambrosio appeared to understand his communications. In any event, as Dr. Wilson explained, prior to an emergency catheterization, there is limited opportunity to communicate with any patient, regardless of whether or not the patient can hear. Indeed, due to the urgency of the procedure, a doctor’s communication to the patient generally consists of little more than informing the patient that he is having a heart attack and that a catheterization procedure needs to be done immediately.

D’Ambrosio acknowledges that Dr. Wilson attempted to communicate with him through the LifeLinks system immediately before the catheterization procedure. In fact, in the summary judgment response that Plaintiffs filed in the district court, D’Ambrosio indicated that Dr. Wilson actually did communicate with him via LifeL-inks prior to the procedure. Yet, in a subsequent motion to reconsider submitted after the entry of summary judgment, and now on appeal, D’Ambrosio claimed that the LifeLinks system was inoperable. As a result, D’Ambrosio contends that, having no understanding of his condition or what the catheterization would entail, he was distressed because he was in pain throughout the procedure;

After the procedure, D’Ambrosio was placed in the ICU and visited there by Dr. Wilson, who communicated with him by writing notes. Dr. Wilson testified that, through these notes, he was able to convey that the procedure was successful, that D’Ambrosio would be okay, and that Wilson would come back the next day to discuss follow-up and prognosis. The documentary evidence, which includes Dr. Wilson’s written notes, confirms Dr. Wilson’s testimony. Moreover, it is undisputed that D’Ambrosio can read and write English. D’Ambrosio nevertheless claims that he did not understand the information provided to him by Dr. Wilson in the ICU.

D’Ambrosio was hospitalized at Halifax Hospital from June 23, 2011 through June 28, 2011. D’Ambrosio testified that he repeatedly requested a live ASL interpreter during his hospitalization, but that while an interpreter was present some of the time, during the majority of the time there was no live interpreter. According to D’Ambrosio, the hospital staff tried to communicate with him through friends and family, written notes, and gestures, but he was unable to understand any of the information the staff attempted to provide. Again, however, written notes in the record confirm that Dr. Wilson and other staff provided detailed written information to D’Ambrosio concerning his condition, treatment, and prognosis, including a graphic depiction of the cardiac catheteri-zation procedure.

*598 Undisputed documentary evidence also shows that the hospital provided webcam interpreting services to D’Ambrosio on June 24th, and a live interpreter to D’Am-brosio for two hours on June 26th, four hours on June 27th, and two hours on June 28th.

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621 F. App'x 594, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/richard-martin-v-halifax-healthcare-systems-inc-ca11-2015.