The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan has resolved its investigation into allegations that Ascension Providence Hospital and an Ascension-affiliated medical facility, Washington Primary Care, violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by denying patients with disabilities from bringing their service animals into their facilities.
The agreement resolves two complaints received by the US Attorney’s Office. The first alleged that Ascension Providence Hospital refused to allow a service dog to accompany a patient with a disability into the pre- and post-operative areas of the hospital. The second alleged that a doctor at Washington Primary Care refused to allow a patient to bring her service dog into an examination room, demanded to see “paperwork” for the animals, and told the patient that she would not continue treatment if she insisted on bringing her service animal. At all times, both Ascension entities cooperated with the investigation, which was conducted by the US Attorney’s Office’s Civil Rights Unit.
Under the resolution, Ascension agreed to revise its service animal policy and its non-discrimination policy applicable to all Ascension Michigan entities, and train its relevant staff on the new policies, including the need to conduct an individualized assessment before any service animal is excluded or prohibited from any area of an Ascension Providence Hospital or Washington Primary Care facility.
