A former patient filed a lawsuit against NYU Langone Health for allegedly failing to provide her with an American Sign Language interpreter prior to and during the delivery of her child, which the patient says violates multiple disability rights laws.
Aneta Brodski, the patient, also sued Carnegie Imaging for Women, a gynecological center in New York City. According to the lawsuit, Brodksi, is deaf. She has been a patient at Carnegie Imaging since 2020 and had at least 13 ultrasound appointments. Sadly, she was denied an interpreter each time.
Hearing loss has been estimated to impact almost 1.6 billion individuals worldwide. Hearing loss is the third leading cause of disability, and it is estimated that uncontrolled or undermanaged hearing loss costs over $1 trillion in lost productivity each year.
Brodski and her husband, Chris Besecker, were transferred from Carnegie Imaging to NYU Langone’s Tisch Hospital in November 2021. Previously they were sent to Mount Sinai Hospital. After that they then went to Woodhull Medical Center. According to the complaint, the couple requested an ASL translator during her ambulance ride to Tisch Hospital. However, no translator was available upon arrival.
Both NYU Langone and Carnegie Imaging responded to the lawsuit independently in August, denying that Brodski and Besecker were discriminated against on the basis of disability. NYU Langone also denied failing to provide Brodski with adequate accommodations, saying that the hospital offered a sign language interpreter during her child’s three days in its care. The interpreter was only there for four hours, according to Brodski’s allegation.
Unfortunately, NYU Langone has previously been accused of disability discrimination. The medical center was sued in January by a former employee who had hip reconstruction surgery and sought to work fewer hours than usual as a result. The employee was fired after asking an extension of her accommodation. Another former employee was allegedly fired in 2019 after requesting accommodations for his persistent back pain. In July 2022, the case was settled out of court.
When it comes to healthcare, disabled people face several challenges. Access to healthcare is critical for disabled people. However, if we are unable to advocate for ourselves or understand crucial information, our needs will not be satisfied. Information presented in an accessible format allows people to better understand their healthcare needs.
Sources
Saadah, Yezen. “NYU Langone Facing Disability Discrimination Lawsuit.” Washington Square News, New York University , 8 Sept. 2023, nyunews.com/news/2023/09/08/nyu-langone-sued-for-ada-violation/.
Tonelli, Marcello, and Ruth Warick. ‘Focusing on the Needs of People With Hearing Loss During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond’. JAMA, vol. 327, no. 12, Mar. 2022, pp. 1129–1130, https://doi.org10.1001/jama.2022.3026.