Southern California Permanente Medical Group and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals have agreed to resolve allegations that they violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by failing to provide a qualified sign language interpreter or other appropriate form of assistance to a deaf patient. Separately, a Riverside County doctor has agreed to settle similar claims involving a deaf patient. The Kaiser settlement agreement ensures that individuals with disabilities at its West Los Angeles Medical Center receive appropriate auxiliary aids and services necessary for effective communication. Southern California Permanente Medical Group and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals have agreed to provide equipment and services free of charge to ensure that people who are deaf or hard of hearing have full and equal access to medical appointments, treatments, and emergency visits at this medical center. The complainant alleged he was not provided effective communication on a regular basis during visits to this medical center from 2012 through 2016. In a separate matter, Dr. Javier Rios, a Lake Elsinore-based physician, also agreed to comply with the ADA by providing appropriate auxiliary aids and services free of charge so people who are deaf or hard of hearing have full and equal access to appointments and treatment at his office. The settlement resolves allegations that Rios, during more than a dozen appointments from 2016 to 2018, failed to provide such services for a patient who is deaf, telling her instead that she or her insurance company should provide them. The ADA requires providers, not patients, to ensure effective communication for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Rios fully cooperated with the government’s investigation.
