items tagged with legal case about sign language interpreters

774 A.2d 615 (N.J.Super.A.D. 2001)

WAYNE BORNGESSER, individually and as executor of the ESTATE OF IRENE BORNGESSER, Plaintiff-Appellant/Cross-Respondent,
v.
JERSEY SHORE MEDICAL CENTER, Defendant-Respondent/Cross-Appellant.

A-2054-99T2

SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY APPELLATE DIVISION

Submitted April 24, 2001

Decided May 14, 2001

On appeal from Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Monmouth County, L-3084-96.

Clara R. Smit, attorney for appellant.

Amdur, Boyle, Maggs & McGann, attorneys for respondent (Michael E. McGann, on the brief).

Before Judges Skillman, Conley and Wecker.

The opinion of the court was delivered by CONLEY, J.A.D.

Plaintiff, deaf since the age of four, appeals a jury verdict in favor of defendant on his claims brought under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD), N.J.S.A. 10:5-1 to -49, and 794(a) (commonly referred to as 504) of the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C.A. 701 to 796. The verdict was based upon the jury's findings that defendant had not failed to provide reasonable accommodation to plaintiff or his wife Irene during her hospitalizations and that defendant had not failed to "ensure effective communication with, and . . . provide . . . equal opportunity to participate in and understand" the medical care given to plaintiff's wife by defendant and its medical staff. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for a new trial. As to defendant's cross-appeal, we affirm without further opinion. R. 2:11-3(e)(1)(E).

I.

The genesis for this litigation arises from the two hospitalizations of Irene in March/April 1995 and May 1995. Upon initial admission, Irene's heart had stopped as a result of ventricular tachycardia, which is an abnormally rapid heartbeat. Her heart was restarted through electroshock treatments but a number of her organs had failed, including her kidneys. During her first hospitalization, a catheterization and, subsequently, a defibrillator procedure were performed. When Irene developed an infection shortly after being released, she was returned to the hospital. During this second hospitalization, Irene, then thirty-eight years old, died.

There is no issue in this case of medical malpractice or of inadequate care. The underlying premise for both the LAD and504 causes of action is that throughout the hospitalizations the hospital's efforts to accommodate plaintiff's and Irene's handicap were inadequate and resulted in ineffective communication with the various treating doctors and nurses and, therefore, prevented plaintiff and Irene from participating in Irene's own course of care and treatment in the same manner as nonhandicapped persons would have been able to. Specifically, plaintiff claims that he and Irene required a sign interpreter fluent in American Sign Language (ASL), which the hospital should have provided.

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