Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

Show NLP summaries collection recirc on article pages

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

Need beauty? These are 7 of the most gorgeous gardens in the D.C. area.

Nationals finally run out of answers and fall to Orioles in 12 innings

4 best things to do with kids in the D.C. area this weekend

What Trump promised oil CEOs as he asked them to steer $1 billion to his campaign

Judge keeps tying Trump to possible intimidation

What extremism looks like to Sean Hannity and his party

Ask Amy: Relatives keep giving me updates on my old family home

Ask Sahaj: My husband wants me to forget all about his emotional affair

Carolyn Hax: Was it wrong to approach late wife’s pal for no-commitment sex?

Protesters descend on Eurovision, object to Israel’s participation

Emboldened Russia marks Victory Day with parade of nuclear-capable weapons

Deaf baby hears for the first time after ‘groundbreaking’ gene therapy trial

In the campaign against Donald Trump, do the ends justify the means?

The next global crisis could come from the sun. We should prepare now.

The FTC’s noncompete clause rule goes too far

Think you want a dog? Take our quiz to find out if you’re ready.

In Photos: Russians mark 79th Victory Day with military parade

Tornadoes hit Michigan, damage FedEx facility

Hack targeting hospital chain Ascension is impacting patient care

A college professor wants to use Section 230 against Big Tech

Commerce Department revokes more export licenses to China’s Huawei

Dog hit by car loses leg, is adopted by firefighter who helped her

Postal worker finds WWII-era letters, drives 5 hours to deliver them

Strangers help Sesame Street puppeteer after heirloom necklace was stolen

5 big travel lessons from a Patagonia CEO-turned-conservationist

Cruise worker accused of stabbing 3 with scissors arrested in Alaska

France tries to shed its rude reputation ahead of the Olympics

RFK Jr’s ‘history lesson’ on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine flunks the fact test

The Trump-Biden battle over the 2017 tax cut

That time football legend, rig-driving eligible bachelor Biden was arrested

In Arizona, election workers trained with deepfakes to prepare for 2024

How Trump’s allies amplify his Truth Social messages to the wider world

Indy Star bars columnist from Caitlin Clark’s games after awkward exchange

Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears at court in New York

Astrid Riecken

MedStar Health, the largest medical provider in D.C. and Maryland, has agreed to enter into a federal settlement over allegations it discriminated against people with disabilities during the pandemic by misapplying a policy and ultimately denying patients equal access to care, the Justice Department announced this week.

The regional health system, based in Columbia, Md., denies the allegations but has accepted a proposal to pay $440,000 to eligible patients, revise policies and train staff under a<a href="https://www.justice.gov/d9/2024-01/consent_decree-u.s._v._medstar_health_inc.pdf" target=_blank> consent decree</a> filed in federal court, which must first be approved by a judge.

At issue, federal investigators found, were instances of staff blocking patients with disabilities from bringing their support people in violation of civil rights and hospital policy. MedStar barred companions of a trauma victim with Alzheimer’s disease, a woman with autism spectrum disorder and a man with an intellectual disability, in violation of the system’s own policies,<a href="https://www.justice.gov/d9/2024-01/complaint-u.s._v._medstar_health_inc.pdf" target=_blank> the complaint states</a>.

“As a result of the resolution, we have clarified our visitation policies and will provide training for associates who regularly may be called upon to recognize when a patient requires a support person,” spokeswoman Marianne Worley said in a statement, adding that MedStar is committed to providing equal, high-quality care to individuals with disabilities.

The Justice Department initially contacted the health system in May 2021, Worley said, about patients affected by visitor restrictions in place at an “extraordinarily difficult time,” when health mandates to limit the spread of covid-19 were changing often.

The Justice Department alleges MedStar repeatedly excluded support people after the pandemic began in March 2020, even though the health system’s policy said exceptions should be made for family members or companions to join people with disabilities. Under the same policy, exceptions were also to be made for children, people undergoing surgery and those at the end of life.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland alleges discrimination occurred repeatedly at various MedStar Health locations from 2020 to 2022 in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act, which requires health-care providers to afford individuals with disabilities with full and equal enjoyment of their goods and services.

“For some people with disabilities, having a support person accompany them is critical to ensure they have the same access to health care as everyone else. This is a key promise of the ADA,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement.

Hospital and Justice Department officials declined to say how many patients were affected and how cases came to their attention.

The proposed consent decree would require MedStar to hire an independent settlement administrator to pay patients depending on how many are eligible.

MedStar must post on its website a message explaining that the health system denies ADA violations but agreed to resolve the matter with the Justice Department. Anyone entitled to a payment will receive written notification and instructions from MedStar Health’s third-party settlement administrator, the agreement says.

The complaint highlights three patients who visited one of the system’s 10 hospitals in the region sometime between 2020 and 2022:

When a woman with Alzheimer’s disease who is a survivor of a sexual assault went to a MedStar emergency department for urgent treatment of a pelvic floor disorder, her adult child was blocked from joining her. She couldn’t explain to providers why the woman was seeking care, relevant medical history and how her trauma history might affect her care, and later could not talk to hospital staff about treatment and care upon discharge.

A woman with autism spectrum disorder and an anxiety disorder went to a MedStar emergency department for a potentially life-threatening fever and pain after an outpatient procedure earlier that day. When her parent was unable to join her inside, the patient experienced a panic attack. The mother and daughter went to a non-MedStar hospital, where they were allowed to stay together.

A man with an intellectual and developmental disability went to a MedStar emergency department, but his primary caregiver was prohibited from joining him, making it impossible for the patient to share his name, date of birth and medical history. They left, returning only when an administrator assured them they could remain together.

An earlier complaint to the director of the Office for Civil Rights office at the Department of Health and Human Services, the District’s federally designated protection and advocacy program for people with disabilities, in September 2020 <a href="https://www.centerforpublicrep.org/wp-content/uploads/DC-OCR-Complaint-against-MedStar-Health-9.16.20.pdf" target=_blank>alerted </a>the agency to what was described as “unlawful disability discrimination” against a patient at MedStar Health.

Half of Black D.C. residents lack easy access to health care, analysis shows

William King, 72, was hard of hearing and had acute brain dysfunction, cognitive disabilities, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, anxiety and other health issues causing memory loss and confusion as well as problems with speaking and decision-making.

Following complications of July 2020 open-heart surgery at MedStar Washington Hospital Center and treatment at MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital in Northwest Washington, hospital officials denied access to in-person support from his daughter Valerie Turnquist, who was his primary caregiver and power of attorney for health-care decisions, according to a letter from Lyndsay Niles, managing attorney at Disability Rights DC at University Legal Services.

During a seven-week stay at the hospital, King was confused, disoriented and depressed, and pleaded for Turnquist to come to the hospital to help him, Niles said, even dialing 911 at one point. But despite requests from his doctors and daughter, he was denied in-person support.

“Our family was heartbroken that my father thought we left him in the hospital to die,” Turnquist said in a statement.

King’s complaint was one of three resolved by the HHS Office for Civil Rights, the <a href="https://public3.pagefreezer.com/browse/HHS.gov/28-12-2022T07:11/https:/www.hhs.gov/about/news/2021/02/25/ocr-resolves-three-discrimination-complaints-after-medstar-health-system.html" target=_blank>agency said</a> in February 2021. One patient with neurocognitive deficits from a stroke, partial blindness and cancer was denied a support person while seeking treatment for seizure symptoms in the emergency department at MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital in Maryland.

The other had advanced neuromuscular autoimmune disease, according to the Office for Civil Rights, causing memory loss as well as physical impairments, and was denied a support person when admitted to the MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in D.C. for a pre-scheduled surgery.

Niles said she and advocates with other disability rights groups <a href="https://www.uls-dc.org/media/1238/medstar-hhs-ocr-resolution-press-release-final-021621.pdf" target=_blank>negotiated</a> with MedStar to revise their policies allowing not only King but anyone with a disability to designate a support person to accompany them throughout their treatment.

University of Delaware, BA in English 

Jenna Portnoy is the local health reporter for The Washington Post. She previously covered members of Congress from the greater Washington region and worked in the Richmond bureau. Before joining The Post, she worked for the Newark Star-Ledger in her home state, as well as the Allentown Morning Call and Philadelphia City Paper. 

Jenna Portnoy

washpost

MedStar agrees to deal in federal disability discrimination case

the-washington-post

Nurses strike at Washington Hospital Center.

For The Washington Post

FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

The Washington Post

The District

Maryland

Virginia

Crime & Public Safety

Local Education

Obituaries

Transportation

Capital Weather Gang

D.C., Md. & Va.

Fast, informative and written just for locals. Get The 7 DMV newsletter in your inbox every weekday morning.

The Washington Post offers breaking local news, weather and traffic information for the DC, Maryland and Virginia metro areas, plus information about school districts, crime, government, religion, the lottery,restaurant reviews and obituaries.