Fiorino and Doris Simons as executrix of the estate of Joseph Simons are persons who are deaf or hard of hearing and thus are individuals with disabilities within the meaning of the Americans with Disabilities Act "ADA" , 42 U. WHEREAS, in lieu of submitting to compliance reviews by the United States and in the absence of any allegations of discrimination, certain hospitals 1 have voluntarily agreed to become Parties to this Consent Decree by filing Rule 24 b Motions to Intervene as defendants the "Voluntarily Participating Hospitals" the Defendant Hospitals, the Investigated Hospitals and the Voluntarily Participating Hospitals being referred to together as the "Hospitals" and individually as a "Hospital" ;.
A persons who are deaf or hard of hearing and are i patients of a Hospital "Patients" or ii persons who will be consulted or would otherwise reasonably be expected to communicate with Hospital Personnel regarding health care issues of Patients "Companions" , and.
B persons who are not deaf or hard of hearing and are i Patients with Companions who are deaf or hard of hearing, ii Companions of Patients who are deaf or hard of hearing, or iii associated with Companions who are deaf or hard of hearing. WHEREAS, the Hospitals have acted or refused to act on grounds generally applicable to the claims of the class, thereby making appropriate final injunctive relief with respect to the class as a whole;.
This Court has jurisdiction over this action pursuant to 42 U. Venue is proper in the District of Connecticut pursuant to 28 U. The Court has authority to grant declaratory relief pursuant to 28 U. The term "appropriate auxiliary aids and services" shall mean: qualified sign language or oral interpreters, notetakers, computer-assisted real time transcription services, written materials, telephone handset amplifiers, assistive listening devices, assistive listening systems, telephones compatible with hearing aids, closed caption decoders, open and closed captioning, and TTY's.
The term "Hospital Personnel" shall mean: all employees and independent contractors with contracts to work on a substantially full-time basis for a Hospital or on a part-time basis exclusively for a Hospital , including, without limitation, nurses, physicians, social workers, technicians, admitting personnel, security staff and therapists, and all volunteers, who have or are likely to have direct contact with Patients or Companions. They are not intended to, and shall not, be used to limit, expand, modify or interpret such provisions.
