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Section 504 Challenges Hospitals’ Care of the Deaf

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Extract

Much has been written and discussed this past year about the responsibility and obligation of hospitals to actively support and comply with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. which was designed to ensure that federally assisted programs and activities would be operated without discrimination on the basis of handicap. The Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) last year published comprehensive regulations implementing this controversial section of the law. Since almost all hospitals and health care institutions receive some form of Medicare, Medicaid or Hill-Burton Funds, this regulation is of special significance to the administrators of facilities who must now make both their physical plant and programs accessible to individuals suffering from a broad range of disabilities.

In as much as a significant portion of the regulations relate to the development of plans to identify physical obstacles limiting accessibility and time schedules for making required modifications to buildings, many hospital officials equate Section 504 solely with the needs of individuals confined to wheelchairs or utilizing other such devices to assist in mobility

Type
Hospital Forum
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 1978

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References

29 U.S.C. §706.Google Scholar
42 Fed. Reg. 22676 (1977).Google Scholar
42 Fed. Reg. 22685 (1977).Google Scholar
42 Fed. Reg. 22681 (1977).Google Scholar
42 Fed. Reg. 22694 (1977).Google Scholar
See Golden, Ulrich, , Deaf Patients’ Access to Care Depends on Staff Communication, HOSPITALS at 86 (May 16, 1978).Google Scholar
42 Fed. Reg. 22685 (1977), see §84.52 (5b).Google Scholar
Seminar on the Medicolegal Rights of Physically Disabled Persons at George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, D.C., April 11, 1978.Google Scholar
See note 7 supra, at 87 and 88.Google Scholar