I sure would like to read the whole complaint. OK I have a question for
anybody doesn't iPhone user. Is there any medical dictionary sugar accessible
with an iPhone? I just wondered because I wanted to look up the term and I
couldn't find it. Although somebody told me what it was eventually. I have to
have a blood test so that they can check the clotting factor even though I
didn't know what it was. I had to ask a friend of mine in Vermont. I asked the
lady that told me about the test and she didn't have a medical dictionary.
And I kept asking her what CF was and she didn't tell me. I was going to call
my sister but I asked a friend of mine your Vermont who does have some medical
knowledge and he told me what it was. I asked him why I had to have that test
and he said they want to see how long it takes for you to clock. He said they
don't want to have any weird surprises when you going to surgery. Because if
they did they wouldn't be able to take care of the problem immediately. Well OK
I can understand that. But my doctors office still hasn't emailed what I Aster
who. Four. She supposed to email me a leaflet about the surgery. She said
she was going to going to give me a print handout. Well that's not access
either. Oh well what can I say. But anyway that's just how it goes. I'm going
to one of those same day surgery places. You go when you have the operation you
come home. And the doctors office is supposed to sort out the home health aide
to. Because he has to sign off on it.
Sent from my iPhone
On Feb 11, 2016, at 8:27 PM, Victor Lawrence <victorelawrence@xxxxxxxxx>You are subscribed to Ourplace (
wrote:
I hope things improve too.
VicOn 2/11/16, Panix <kathyann@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Well maybe things will change when the suit is filed. Maybe we won't hearYou are subscribed to Ourplace (
why don't you have a sighted person they can read your cards anymore? I sure
hope so. Hopefully things will change. I had that experience once and I
don't want to have it again. Anyway Tuesday I'm going to go up to church and
get a whole bunch of stuff read. This lady that reads for me is going to do
it. I just don't know what time yet but we'll figure that one out. But
that's how that goes. And Sunday I'm definitely not going to church because
it'll be too cold. Like to do. Like only 2°. And there's no way I'm going
out because the windchill factor is going to be below zero. Well I finally
found out some information I didn't know what it was. They said they wanted
to test my blood for the see you CF. I didn't know what CF was. I asked a
friend of mine and I found out it's the clotting factor. And I keep kept
asking this lady is a doctors office what it was. This is why I wanted to
have access to a me
dical dictionary. Because the lady didn't answer the question. Maybe she
didn't know. But it would've been nice if you would've told me but oh well.
Anyway I wasn't really hungry earlier today so I had a canopies for dinner
and I can or fruit cocktail and three cookies. I didn't feel like going
downstairs. Now I'm full and I don't want anymore. But anyway only the
cookies were a bit frightening. But that's all I wanted. Because my neighbor
down the hall for me gave me two salmon meals and I had them around noon. So
I really wasn't hungry for the 3 o'clock meal. But that's OK. But anyway
tomorrow morning I have therapy with me Megan. So we'll get to talk
tomorrow. Tuesday as I said I want to go to church and get my mail right and
I will. So basically that's the way that goes. Monday I won't get it read
because it's a holiday. But that's just how that is.
Sent from my iPhone
On Feb 11, 2016, at 6:29 PM, Linda Gehres <ljgehres@xxxxxxx> wrote:You are subscribed to Ourplace (
Subject: National Federation of the Blind and Disability Advocates Charge
Federal Health Agency with Civil Rights Violations
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contacts:
Chris Danielsen
Director of Public Relations
National Federation of the Blind
(410) 659-9314, extension 2330
(410) 262-1281 (Cell)
cdanielsen@xxxxxxx<mailto:cdanielsen@xxxxxxx>
Silvia Yee
Senior Staff Attorney
Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund
(510) 644-2555
syee@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:syee@xxxxxxxxx>
National Federation of the Blind and Disability Advocates Charge Federal
Health
Agency with Civil Rights Violations
After forty years of the federal Rehabilitation Act and a new world of
technology, blind people still forced to rely on others to read
inaccessible
materials
Springfield, Massachusetts (February 10, 2016): The National Federation of
the
Blind (NFB) and individual plaintiffs Juan Figueroa, Derek Manners, and
Martti
Mallinen announced the filing of a major federal lawsuit today in US
District
Court, District of Massachusetts, Western Division. The lawsuit charges
the US
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through its sub-agency, the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and its CMS
sub-contractors,
with systemically violating the civil rights of blind Medicare
recipients.
The action seeks to require HHS to provide blind individuals meaningful
and
equally effective access to their Medicare information, as required by
Section
504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794 (Section 504). CMS,
a
sub-agency of HHS, is the largest single payer for health care in the
United
States, providing health care coverage to nearly ninety million Americans
through Medicare, Medicaid, and the State Children’s Health Insurance
Program.
CMS regularly communicates information to blind persons via inaccessible
and electronic formats which they cannot read. Mr. Figueroa, Mr.
Manners, Mr. Mallinen, and many other NFB members have thus faced or been
at
risk for loss of benefits and healthcare disruption. For example, Mr.
Mallinen has received information about denial of benefits and his right
to
appeal said denial that he could not read, potentially adversely affecting
his
appeal rights.
Mark A. Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind,
said:
"We are outraged that blind people do not have access to their personal
Medicare
and Medicaid information forty years after the passage of the
Rehabilitation act
and almost a year after CMS promised to implement a plan for equal access.
Today
blind people readily access information in more ways than ever before but
even
large print access, the simplest possible solution for those with
sufficient
residual vision, is not made available. This continued disregard for the
privacy
and civil rights of the blind is inexcusable, and blind Americans will
not
tolerate it."
At a time when smart technology is presumed to be improving the lives of
people
with a variety of disabilities, blind Americans who rely on healthcare
services
provided through Medicare and Medicare contractors are forced to divulge
personal and financial data to a sighted third-party when responding to
CMS.
Electronic and online materials may not be any more accessible than
printed
ones. As a result, blind Medicare beneficiaries are often unnecessarily
prevented from independently reading, filling out, signing and submitting
online
forms.
Appropriate auxiliary aids and services for blind individuals may include
providing documents in alternative formats such as Braille, large print,
audio
CD, and digital navigable formats supported by computers and digital
talking-book players, transmitted through data CD, e-mail, or other
requested
media.
The filing follows an investigation launched by Disability Rights
Education &
Defense Fund (DREDF) to establish that there were widespread incidences
of
communication access barriers in CMS systems. In August 2014, in response
to
complaints filed with the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in 2011 and
2012
under Section 504, CMS entered into an agreement with OCR. The complaints
were
filed on behalf of blind Medicare beneficiaries, and those similarly
situated,
who were not provided with notice of their rights or with effective
communication under Section 504. The agreement signed by CMS and OCR,
entitled
the “Commitment to Action to Resolve DREDF Section 504 Complaints”
(Commitment
to Action), established a timeframe within which CMS would take specified
actions to ensure the agency’s compliance with Section
504 in the areas raised in OCR’s investigation of the complaints, found
at
http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/civilrights/activities/agreements/cms.html.
DREDF Senior Attorney, Silvia Yee, said, “CMS was required to complete a
‘Long-Term Action Plan’ by April 2015 that would ensure effective
cross-disability communication access, as well as the timely provision of
auxiliary aids and services to CMS beneficiaries and consumers. To date,
we have
not seen a Plan. People with disabilities have not been notified of any
such
plan. As a public entity that deals every day with people with
disabilities and
older Americans, CMS should lead the way to ensure compliance with
disability
civil rights laws, not lag behind by four decades."
Plaintiffs are represented by DREDF; Brown, Goldstein & Levy; and
Sugarman,
Rogers, Barshak & Cohen (SRBC).
###
The National Federation of the Blind
The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between
blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want; blindness is
not
what holds you back. https://nfb.org
Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund Founded in 1979 by people with
disabilities and parents of children with disabilities, the Disability
Rights
Education & Defense Fund (DREDF) is a national law and policy center based
in
Berkeley, CA and is dedicated to protecting and advancing the civil rights
of
people with disabilities.
www.dredf.org<http://www.dredf.org>.
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