SEATTLE (AP) — A new federal lawsuit accuses Providence St. Joseph Health of failing to provide in-person American Sign Language interpreters for deaf patients, leaving them at the mercy of virtual interpreters and technological difficulties. The nonprofit law firm Disability Rights Advocates says its clients requested in-person ASL interpreters well before their appointments, but that Providence’s Seattle-area facilities frequently failed to provide them. Instead, patients had to deal with “video remote interpreters” on screens that often froze or cut out. They sometimes resorted to communicating with health care providers by pen and paper. The lawsuit says that was demeaning and left them without all their questions answered. Providence did not immediately issue a response.
Lawsuit: Providence failed to provide ASL interpreters
