Mountain States answers discrimination lawsuit
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (AP) – Mountain States Health Alliance says staff went above and beyond standard procedures for the family who filed a discrimination lawsuit against the health organization alleging its employees didn’t provide adequate accommodations for the deaf parents of a woman dying of cancer.
The Johnson City Press reports (http://bit.ly/1PdgPOe) Mountain State recently filed an answer to the lawsuit saying staff at the medical center, where Sydnei Cantrell was treated and later died, “undertook elaborate efforts” to comfort Cantrell and her family. Attorneys say these efforts included a private screening for the Disney film “Cinderella” in the hospital for Cantrell and her father.
The lawsuit says officials at the Johnson City Medical Center refused to provide qualified sign language interpreters to allow the couple to participate in their daughter’s care during a six-month period as she died of cancer.
