Perez v. Doctors Hosp. at Renaissance, Ltd. – Aug. 2015 (Summary)

DISCRIMINATION

Perez v. Doctors Hosp. at Renaissance, Ltd., No. 14-41349 (5th Cir. Aug. 28, 2015)

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed summary judgment granted by a lower court in favor of a hospital on discrimination claims made by the parents of a patient. The four-month-old child was diagnosed with a brain tumor that required monthly treatment at the hospital. Both parents are deaf and primarily communicate with American Sign Language. This litigation arose because the hospital allegedly often failed to provide an interpreter and, on the occasions that the hospital did provide them an interpreter, the parents would have to wait “upwards of a full day” for the interpreter to arrive.

The district court granted summary judgment to the hospital, ruling that the evidence did not establish any real and immediate threat of future harm and that there was no evidence of a complaint about the accommodations being made after the child’s diagnosis. The court of appeals disagreed, stating that the father’s affidavit was evidence that the family experienced recent problems with the hospital’s provision of services, which established a genuine dispute of a material fact.