Having Trouble Finding an Accessible Medical Exam Table?
It doesn’t matter if I have a common cold or am barely conscious and in need of emergency care — the sight of my wheelchair too often puts medical assistants in a tizzy. Which room is best? What furniture needs to be moved or removed? How do we get him on the inaccessible exam table, chair, or bed? Can he stand, walk a few steps, do anything at all? Can we lift him? Should we? What if he falls or someone is hurt? What does the law say? What do our attorneys say? Do we have to follow the ADA? Can we be sued if we don’t?
For the last six months I’ve been dealing with an infection that resulted in an emergency operation to remove an abscess and home bed confinement. It was understood that when I healed, I would need an all-important imaging test to determine if I needed a second operation to remove the underlying cause of infection and prevent recurrence. I was given an appointment at a new urology clinic. I was excited — the waiting room was modern and comfortable. When the nurse showed me to the exam room for the imaging, there sat a new height-adjustable exam chair/bed in the middle of the room just the right height for my wheelchair. I successfully transferred to the bed.
Then came reality: They needed to move the portable imaging machine over me as I lay on the exam bed, but no one knew how to operate my bed to bring me up to the height of the machine. Either my bed malfunctioned on its maiden voyage, or no one had bothered to train the nurse and doctor in charge. The doctor, obviously embarrassed, ordered the nurse to find someone who knew how to operate the bed. The nurse returned empty-handed. No one knew what to do. I was sent home.
They rescheduled me for an imaging test at a new multi-story, all-purpose health center with state-of-the-art equipment. I arrived as scheduled. The procedure would take place in an operating room. They were taking no chances. I was shown to my day-stay room, but the bed was too high. No one would lift me because their policy didn’t allow for it, so they sent for a Hoyer lift but couldn’t find an adult-size sling. After a three-and-a-half hour wait for a sling, they finally got me in bed and wheeled to the OR two hours late. I’m still waiting for imaging results three weeks later.
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It is no wonder that well-documented medical disparities of people with mobility disabilities begin with the most basic interaction between doctor and patient — the providing of an accessible room, exam table or bed. Despite 100 years of having the needed technology (barbers had hydraulic barber chairs in the early 20th Century) and 50 years of legislation that established our right to equal treatment (beginning with the 1973 Vocational Rehabilitation Act, section 504), our medical establishment is still woefully unaware of and unprepared for our most basic needs.
This kind of inequitable treatment happens commonly, and it’s more than an inconvenience. Lack of accessible medical equipment puts both nurses and patients with mobility disabilities at risk. Women are especially endangered when pap smears and mammograms are delayed or skipped altogether because of lack of accessible medical equipment and restrictive lifting policies (necessary to protect nurses from injury). Patients and nurses need to join forces to protect each other.
Patient Safe Handling Laws address the need for accessible medical equipment that saves nurses’ backs and reduces health risk for patients, but only 11 states have such laws. Together with DOJ enforcement of ADA guidelines covering Medical Diagnostic Equipment, these laws can bring way overdue change. But it won’t happen unless we make it happen. Contact me if you want to be part of the solution (see bio below).
Please submit your comments on the proposed updates to the rule here. These comments must be submitted on or before November 13, 2023.
Read more about Accessible Exam Tables here.