United Spinal Association v. Beth Israel Medical Center

What this case is about

This is a settled class-action lawsuit against Beth Israel Medical Center (now operating as Mount Sinai Beth Israel) in New York City, filed by United Spinal Association and individual patients in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The case challenged Beth Israel's failure to provide accessible exam tables, transfer assistance, and effective communication accommodations to patients with mobility disabilities and other disabilities. Patients were being examined while still in their wheelchairs (which is medically inadequate for many procedures), denied transfer assistance, or denied effective communication for deaf patients. The October 2017 settlement requires Beth Israel to procure accessible exam tables, imaging equipment, and patient lifts; train staff on transfer assistance and effective communication; provide qualified ASL interpreters for deaf patients at no charge; implement intake and accommodation-request procedures; and submit to monitoring. The case is in compliance phase. As Mount Sinai Beth Israel has consolidated with Mount Sinai over time, settlement obligations may have transferred or merged with broader Mount Sinai accessibility policies. Current patients encountering barriers should report.

Who may qualify

The settlement protects patients with disabilities at Beth Israel Medical Center / Mount Sinai Beth Israel facilities in New York City. You can report a problem if: - You're a patient (current or past) at any Beth Israel or Mount Sinai Beth Israel facility. - You have a disability — mobility, vision, hearing, intellectual, etc. - You couldn't get on an exam table, weren't offered transfer assistance, didn't get a sign-language interpreter, or were otherwise denied accommodation.

What helps your case

Documentation: visit records, appointment confirmations, communications regarding accommodation requests, contemporaneous notes of refusals, medical records establishing qualifying disability and accommodation need.

How to document what happened

Documentation strategy: visit records, communication preservation, written refusals where obtainable, medical-records preservation establishing accommodation need.

What if you don’t have documentation?

Reports may proceed without records. Channels: DOJ Civil Rights Division; HHS OCR (§ 504, § 1557); NYCCHR; NYSDHR; United Spinal Association.

What this case doesn’t cover

Outside scope: other NYC healthcare systems (separate Title III/§ 504); non-NYC Beth Israel facilities; insurance/billing; quality-of-care claims (NY medical licensing, malpractice frameworks).

Legal theory

ADA Title III + Section 504

Named defendants

• Beth Israel Medical Center

Case facts

Type

Class action

Affected states

NY

Court

U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York

Filed

2017-10-01

Who to contact

Nobody is running an intake for this one. You can still report what happened.

• Government agency

  U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division

  Takes complaints about businesses open to the public and about state and local government. It investigates and enforces, but it does not represent individuals and cannot advise you on your own claim. If the service takes federal funding, the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights also takes these.

  Phone 800-514-0301

  TTY 833-610-1264

  civilrights.justice.gov/report

  Filing a complaint is not the same as having a lawyer, and it does not pause any legal deadlines. If you may want to bring a case, talk to an attorney about your dates as well as filing.

  Every state has one. They are free, they take intake directly, and unlike a federal agency they can represent you. Find yours

Key dates

Status

Compliance phase; impacted by Mount Sinai corporate consolidation

Settlement

October 2017