Department of Justice's implementing regulation, 28 C. Part 36, and Section of the Rehabilitation Act of , 29 U. The MDHR commenced an investigation of [redacted]'s complaint. In both their federal and state complaints, the [redacted] allege the following:. On May 8, , at approximately p. The [redacted] contacted St. Joseph's Hospital, in St. Paul, Minnesota, part of HealthEast's system of medical facilities, to arrange for AB's hospital care. They requested that the hospital provide a sign language interpreter for the [redacted], but hospital staff told them they could not provide an interpreter because it was after hours and the hospital's interpreter office was closed.
The hospital also told the [redacted] that it would not provide an interpreter because [redacted] was not the patient and her mother, who was the patient, was not deaf. Hospital staff directed the [redacted] to call the hospital the next morning.
Based on the hospital's response to their request for an interpreter, the [redacted] decided to wait until the next morning when the interpreter office was open to bring AB to the hospital. The [redacted] would have brought AB to the hospital sooner if the hospital had been willing to provide an interpreter. The next morning, May 9, , the [redacted] contacted the hospital and notified staff that they were bringing AB to the hospital.
They repeated their request for an interpreter. When the [redacted] arrived at the hospital with AB, there was no interpreter present. They once again requested an interpreter.
The hospital did not provide an interpreter for the [redacted] for approximately four hours after they arrived at the hospital on May 9 and more than twelve hours after the [redacted] had first requested an interpreter on May 8. AB remained hospitalized at St. Joseph's Hospital for approximately two days and during that period, the hospital provided a qualified interpreter for only some communications between the [redacted] and its staff.
