An appeals court has dismissed a deaf patient's claim that a hospital's failure to provide an interpreter led to injuries she sustained from an epidural injection.
Amanda Crider, a deaf woman who relies on sign language interpreters, claims to have notified the staff upon her admission to Barnes-Jewish St. Peters (Missouri) Hospital that she desired to have a natural childbirth without an epidural or other pain medications. According to court records, Ms. Crider claims that she had refused consent to any such medications unless absolutely necessary.
An epidural was inserted into Ms. Crider's spine, however, after she gave what she maintained was her "uninformed consent" for the procedure. In the lawsuit she later filed, Ms. Crider alleged the injection caused persistent physical pain and disabling symptoms associated with epidural procedures, and claims that she was entitled to know about such risks before agreeing to the injection.
While the hospital reportedly encouraged Ms. Crider to have an epidural, Ms. Crider claims that the facility "could not and did not provide her with interpretation services to assist in explaining why they felt an epidural was necessary," court records indicate. As such, doctors and medical staff couldn't effectively explain to Ms. Crider the risks and benefits of the epidural, and couldn't understand her wishes and instruction regarding her care, according to the complaint. Subsequently, she "mistakenly believed that the epidural was medically necessary," according to court records.
Ms. Crider sought to recover damages for her injuries. A trial court dismissed her complaint on the grounds that she didn't file the appropriate healthcare affidavit required when a plaintiff claims the defendant failed to appropriately obtain informed consent. According to court records, Ms. Crider asserted that she wasn't obliged to file an affidavit, because she wasn't alleging the hospital "improperly rendered or failed to render healthcare services." The appeals court decision upheld the trial court's judgment.
Attorneys for Ms. Crider could not be reached for comment, and representatives for Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital declined to comment on the case.
Mark McGraw
