PIAC is representing the partner of a profoundly deaf man who is taking legal action against Ramsay Health Care Ltd, the owners and operators of Westmead Private Hospital. The hospital refused to provide an Auslan interpreter to enable him to participate in antenatal classes and liaise with medical staff during the birth of their first child.
The couple, Kate and Anthony Hinton, eventually had their child at Westmead Public Hospital, where an interpreter was provided free of charge for the duration of the birth and in the immediate antenatal period.
Auslan interpretation services are already freely available in public hospitals and PIAC considers it is time that people who communicate using Auslan were guaranteed the same service in the private system.