Ramblings of an Emergency Physician in Texas

Imagine the fun

Posted by gruntdoc on June 11th, 2008

Imagine the fun
Of the deaf patient and utterly no ASL interpreter available.

Now give the patient you’re trying very hard to communicate difficulty writing, difficulty with vision, and more than three chief complaints.

Ouch.

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4 Responses to “Imagine the fun”

  1. Mary Says:

    Wow!! I hope you found a good way to deal with it! That must’ve been frustrating for both of you!!

  2. gunner Says:

    I feel your pain. We have a school for the deaf and a school for the blind just down the road from our ED. Sometimes the pt’s are both! I does add a degree of difficulty to the job.

  3. Devorrah Says:

    I’m a lip reader myself, as I’m very hearing impaired. I had to take my teenager to the ER recently, and the doc was dashing around, bending over and examining my son. I was following him around like a curious lemur, and finally he stopped and looked at my quizzically. My son beat me to the explanation, saying,”She can’t hear–she’s trying to see your face so she can read your lips.” After that we were fine! I’m sorry you had so much trouble–I would have been lost myself, as I don’t sign.

  4. girlvet Says:

    our hospital got sued for not providing a ASL interpeter in a timely manner and they won the lawsuit…