The US Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR), in partnership with the US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington (USAO), entered into an agreement with MultiCare Health Systems of Washington (MultiCare) to resolve complaints which alleged that MultiCare’s failure to provide appropriate auxiliary aids and services, such as sign language interpreters or tactile sign language interpreters, for patients who are deaf or hard of hearing, blind or low vision, or both, violated federal civil rights laws — Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504), Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (Section 1557), and Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (“ADA”) — which protect against discrimination.
The agreement resolves a joint investigation into allegations that MultiCare, an HHS financial assistance recipient, failed, multiple times, to provide effective communication to a patient who is deaf and a patient who is both deaf and blind (deaf-blind). The investigation revealed that MultiCare relied on the spouse of a patient who is deaf-blind to interpret for the patient before and after surgery. Additionally, MultiCare relied on the son of a patient who is deaf to interpret before and after the patient’s surgery. The family members were not prepared or qualified to interpret for the patients during this stressful time. Federal civil rights law prohibits MultiCare from relying on family and companions to provide interpretation unless there is an emergency or the individual with the disability specifically requests it.
