Georgia Hospitals Ignored ADA
For years the disabled have found that the hospitals in and around Atlanta have not been helpful to the disabled. They will not get you a waffle bed while you are in emergency or even after you are admitted. While in emergency they will not give you medication that you need to live. The hospital will not bring in drop arm commodes because "they are in different parts of the hospital." So the disabled have become used to getting pressure sores and not receiving life saving medication. Fortunately, there is light at the end of the tunnel because the federal government has sued and won ADA violations against Georgia hospitals. These hospitals have been nailed on virtually every aspect of the ADA including equal access, did not rectify problems after promising to do so, lack of proper equipment and lack of proper training even though the hospitals were trauma centers. There is a substantial, write-up of the settlement agreement and it is available on the Internet here.
While it is wonderful that someone has started to lift a finger in Georgia about how hospitals treat the disabled, when do we do this with the rest of the country. THere are stories about the disabled not able tog et service, being dropped off in slums so the hospitals don’t need to care for them, or sending the disabled to another hospital because the¥ can’t make much money from Medicare. THere are so many problems that it is doubtful that they can be fixed in our lifetime, but we can start somewhere. Taking what was found and promised in Georgia, the disabled community needs to demand equal accessibility and service from every hospital and clinic in the country. No one should be ferried to another hospital because of money. Federal controls of the medical industry has been fought over for many years but it looks like the patients are going to finally get their say this year. Call your congressmen and senators to let them know what you expect and that the disabled are real people that deserve what everyone else gets.
Remember, just complaining to a hospital directly will not solve the problems that the disabled have with them. These entities are in business to make money, and at your health expense. They do not care that you do not get medication or that they create bedsores that could send you to a nursing home center. But they do care when the federal government comes in and starts twisting arms to do the right thing. Medicine is not what it used to be. Doctors used to work with their patients and actually listen to them. This has degenerated into mass production medicine where doctors see each patient for exactly 37 seconds before moving on to the next. Who cares if the patient is not cured or if their pain has not been reduced. As long as their insurance has been billed the maximum possible and the minimum done for the patient by law – then everything is just fine. NOT IT IS NOT! Until we demand better things will not change. Do not expect hospital and doctors to do better until we whack them over the head with laws and ADA lawsuits. These only happen when the disabled call lawyers and congress. Yes, it is a pain in the neck to force these entities to actually follow the law but that is our duty to everyone else.
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Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog.
Cheers! Sandra. R.