Study: Many Boston Doctors’ Offices Inaccessible For Disabled

By The Associated Press March 19, 2013

BOSTON — A new study has found that more than one in six doctors’ offices in Boston couldn’t schedule appointments for callers posing as patients using wheelchairs, a problem that violates federal law and could delay critical treatment.

According to the study by researchers at Springfield’s Baystate Medical Center, callers turned away by physicians in Boston and three other cities were mostly told the offices lacked an exam table that could be raised and lowered or a lift for transferring a patient out of their wheelchair. In some cases, practices were located in wheelchair inaccessible buildings.

The findings were published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Study leader Dr. Tara Lagu told The Boston Globe said she is “shocked” every time she hears from patients in wheelchairs who can’t get appointments.

midtempo

Doctors tell the patient that they lack a lift for transferring a patient out of a wheelchair? For crying out loud, lift the patient out of the wheelchair and put him on an exam table. It’s not that hard, and it’s not rocket science. If a doctor is unwilling to do this, it’s because he’s afraid of getting sued for injuring a patient. In this situation, you’re more likely to get sued for violating the ADA than for injuring a patient.