01/14/2012    

QUERIES (MEDICAL / LEGAL))

Query: ADA and Deaf Patients

 

I understand that as doctors we need to accommodate the disabled. In the case of hearing-impaired patients, it is our cost to have an interpreter present. Is the doctor able to dictate what interpreter will be used or does the patient decide who will be interpreting? As far as the charge for the services of the interpreter, how is the appropriate fee set? It takes about twenty minutes for us to see a hearing-impaired patient. We are told from the interpreting service that it is their policy to charge us for a minimum of two hours.

 

Jon Purdy, DPM, New Iberia, LA

 

Editor's comment: PM News does not provide legal advice. The ADA does not specify who is to choose the interpreter, so you are free to negotiate an acceptable arrangement. If you have more than one hearing-impaired patient, it makes sense to schedule all such patients in a two-hour block of time. 

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09/20/2011    

QUERIES (MEDICAL / LEGAL))

Query: Waiver from Suing

Are doctors allowed to place in their consent forms waivers that patients cannot sue?

 

Jeffrey Kass, DPM Forest Hills, NY  

 

Editor' comment: PM News does not provide legal advice: Most courts would deem such a waiver as "against public policy." Additionally, many patients would not consent to surgery if they had to sign such a waiver.