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From: Jack.O'keeffe@f26.n129.z1.fidonet.org (Jack O'keeffe)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: Sign Word for Paramedic
Message-ID: <17616@bunker.UUCP>
Date: 4 Feb 91 21:47:53 GMT
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Index Number: 13497

[This is from the Silent Talk Conference]

 JC> I was under the impression that your work is in a hospital
 JC> emergency room--where doctors, nurses AND technicians of
 JC> various sorts all wear white jackets, usually.

You must have had the good fortune not to visit a hospital emergency
room in recent years, Jay.  As someone said, the only ones still
wearing white are the meat cutters in the supermarket :-)

 JC> You would have been legally in hot water if your admittedly
 JC> limited sign language skills brought on inappropriate treatment.
 JC> One local hospital some years ago actually used a hard-of-hearing
 JC> person to interpret!  She was an employee of the hospital.
 JC> I talked with her about this and encouraged her to refuse
 JC> to do this.

How would you feel, Jay, if the hard-of-hearing interpreter took
your well intended but misguided advice, and this resulted in the
failure of a deaf person to receive appropriate emergency treatment
while awaiting arrival of a "certified" interpreter?

... Pax vobiscum.

--
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