DOJ Gets $70,000 Settlement with Henry Ford Health System for Denying Interpreter to Deaf Patient

See this article from the Detroit News.  It begins:

Henry Ford Health System will pay $70,000 to a family who alleges the system failed to provide sign language intreptereters, and must train staff on the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to a settlement announced Wednesday by the U.S. Justice Department. 

The agreement comes after the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan investigated a complaint alleging the Detroit-based health system failed to provide certain auxiliary aids and services, including the sign language interpreter to a deaf patient and his family at Kingwood Hospital in Ferndale, an inpatient psychiatric facility. The lack of the interpretation service denied the deaf patient effective communication with hospital staff and the opportunity to participate in medical treatment decisions and that it did not have adequate systems in place to make sure deaf and hard of hearing patients are provided with aids and services to guarantee effective communication throughout medical treatment, according to a news release.