Deaf patient was dying, but no one told her

David Nelson got the bad news about his wife in December 2005. He just didn’t know it.

For three months, the Nelsons met with doctors at North Memorial Medical Center, but they weren’t aware Mary Ann was dying of cancer. In fact, they thought she was doing well enough in her battle with the disease that she could go to her retirement party. So they were stunned in March 2006 when her oncologist abruptly put an end to their hopes — and their request — with a terse note saying, “We can’t cure the cancer!”

It was the first time the Nelsons, both deaf, understood the cancer was terminal, according to the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. Mary Ann Nelson died in May 2006.

The agency pointed to the incident as an example of the medical team’s failure to communicate effectively with the Nelsons. This week, state regulators announced that North Memorial agreed to pay $105,000 to settle charges that Nelson and another patient were not provided access to qualified sign language interpreters. Often, David Nelson had to read lips or write notes to communicate with doctors and nurses, despite his repeated requests for an interpreter.

“It was extremely difficult and painful for them,” said Rick Macpherson, Nelson’s attorney. “They couldn’t ask any questions. They couldn’t have any discussion. They couldn’t get any kind of comfort.”

For decades, the deaf and hearing impaired didn’t know if they would get an interpreter when going to a hospital. The landscape changed in 2004 after federal officials accused Fairview Health Services of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. The lawsuit led to a settlement and improved local compliance with the law, as state and federal officials started visiting other Minnesota hospitals to make sure they were providing properly trained interpreters.

Read more: http://www.startribune.com/local/83692992.html?page=2&c=y