refusal of service

20 years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities act and doctors are still refusing to provide qualified interpreters?

An emergency interpreter costs on average $65 an hour with a two hour minimum in Texas. One cannot be obtained, used, and dismissed within those 2 hours to at least me sure a person understand his illness and treatment? No one suggests paying an agency interpreter all day - but a hospital cannot afford 2 hours?

Especially since the courts have determined that a $400,000 practice cannot claim undue hardship.


Surely there is a way to be sure the patient understands and is able to obey the doctor's instructions without relying on reading, a skill many deaf have at only a fourth grade reading level.

How many more people have to die?