Hard of Hearing Nursing Student Dismissed, Sued and Awarded $75,000

Shirley Parrott-Copus was working as an LPN for 15 years and decided to return to college to become a registered nurse. Shortly after admission, the nursing program found out that she had a profound sensorineural hearing loss. She was dismissed from the nursing program with a GPA of 3.7. Nurses Disabilities Article

Hard of Hearing Nursing Student Dismissed, Sued and Awarded $75,000

Hard of hearing nursing students

Since the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990 progress has been made accommodating nursing students and nurses with disabilities in education and practice. Specifically, nurses with hearing loss are practicing in a variety of settings (universities, hospitals, schools for the deaf, camps and outpatient clinics). Technology has done much to assist nurses with hearing loss. Examples include captioned telephones, smartphones, digital blood pressure devices, master alarms, pagers, flashing lights and electronic and amplified stethoscopes.

Sign language interpreters have also assisted nursing students. Examples include:

  • Lauren Searls received her bachelor's in nursing from Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing and has applied for the Masters of Science in Nursing program at Johns Hopkins.
  • Alyssa Myers graduated with a nursing degree from Howard College in Texas.
  • Sarah Hein is a student at the University of Detroit Mercy in the accelerated BSN/RN program second degree option).
  • Joanie Grondin graduated from the nursing program at the University of Southern Maine. Nursing students with hearing loss have also graduated in other countries.
  • Lisanna Grosso graduated from the University of Piedmont in Italy.
  • Helen Cherry graduated from Brighton School of Nursing in Australia.
  • Andrew Maxim graduated with a Diploma in mental health nursing from the University of Salford in England.

So, why did this happen?

Shirley Parrott-Copus was working as an LPN for 15 years and decided to return to college to become a registered nurse. She attended Terra State Community College in Ohio for three semesters before being admitted in 2014 to the Practical Nurse to Registered Nurse program. Shirley had a strong academic record and work experience. Shortly after admission, the nursing program found out that she had a profound sensorineural hearing loss and required her to prove that she could hear or be dismissed from the program. The program also refused to consider use of auxiliary aids (closed captioning for required assignments) and other services. She was dismissed from the nursing program with a GPA of 3.7.

Shirley sought counsel from the National Association of the Deaf, the law firm of Relman, Dane & Colfax, PLLC, and the law firm of Stein & Vargas, LLP. A suit was filed in August, 2015 in federal court against Terra State Community College for violating state and federal law, which requires colleges to provide equal opportunity to students who are hard of hearing or deaf. This includes providing students with effective services for communication. The college rescinded her admission and made an offer of judgment, similar to an out-of-court settlement, of $75,000 ($50,000 in damages and $25,000 for her legal fees), which she accepted.

On December 8, 2015 a federal judge entered a judgment against Terra State Community College in a case alleging that the College discriminated against a former nursing student Shirley Parrott-Copus in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The Order requires the College to pay $75,000.00 to the former student, Shirley Parrott-Copus. Terra State Community College says it admits no liability in this case. But it settled to avoid unnecessary time and expense.

What do you think?

Why did this happen?

Was this justice?

Should the college have been required to admit Shirley back into the program?

Appreciate reading your thoughts and comments.

References:

Spring resident nurse follows her dream despite hearing impairment

Healthcare careers for the deaf and hard of hearing community.

Deaf single mother of two to graduate from USM's nursing program

Una storia di successo, per Lisanna e per l'UPO

Who am I?' - The story of Helen Cherry

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Donna Maheady

About Donna Maheady

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This absolutely infuriates me. I have been a nurse for over a decade, but when I told my audiologist I wanted to go to nursing school, she did nothing but discourage me and tell me I couldn't do it. My audiologist! Thankfully I decided to go anyway, and I graduated with a 3.9 gpa. Good for this nurse for fighting back. I only wish she could have sued that school for a lot more money and attention. This is inexcusable and disgusting. I hope she goes on to become successful in her career.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

Does she want to return to that program or move on to another school?

This happened because someone is either ignorant of the law, hoped the student was ignorant of the law or thought it didn't really apply. There are accommodations that are unreasonable such as someone who is legally blind wanting to drive a truck or fly a plane or be a navy fighter pilot Top Gun. Clearly she's capable of being successful as a nurse since she's a licensed LPN. Clearly reasonable accommodations are available and effective to promote success. It's not like she had a 1.8 GPA with accommodations and wanted special treatment. Her expectations were realistic and the school violated federal law by making grossly erroneous assumptions about her capabilities. Not everyone can do everything they want but in this case she was a prime candidate that was blatantly discriminated against once her hearing differences was disclosed or discovered. Amazing how no issue during prerequisite studies nor poor grades.

Hope she finds an ever better program and moves forward

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This happened because the bullies are not just students in schools, they are also the teachers, clinical instructors, and administrators.

It is sad that judgement wasn't 10 times the amount. 75K is probably 1/3 what they would have spent on their own lawyers defending the suit.

My wife and my oldest son both have experienced discrimination in the education system over their disabilities.

Every year I have to fight with the administration and each teacher for accommodations under the Americans with Disability Act. Sad really, but I fight every year because I see what a difference it makes in his education. He went from earning Ds and Cs and being labeled disruptive to earning almost straight As in Honors and AP classes with a 3.85 GPA.

Ill step off my venting soap box now...

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Specializes in ER/Tele, Med-Surg, Faculty, Urgent Care.

I had a deaf nursing student. He already had a bachelor's degree. He was in the second semester of the program, I was not told about him until the first day of class when the other students in the class told me. He sat right up front. He could read lips. I just had to remember not to turn my back to write on the board while talking. It actually made me a better teacher as I had to slow down, carefully enunciate. This was for health assessment class. The local hospital had a deaf nurse on the med surg floor so I arranged for them to meet, I needed the nurse to help us with selecting a stethoscope that was compatible with hearing aids. I was not aware of all the different electronic stethoscopes available. He did well in all his classes. I can't believe that this college discriminated against this student.

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Specializes in Peds, Oncology.

I graduated with a deaf nurse. The college provided someone to come and sign for her for the entirety of the program. She could read lips really well. Since she had to watch lips or her signer, she couldn't take her own notes, so the university paid one student per class to scribe notes for her. She won just about every academic and nursing award we had to offer. Last I heard, she was a school nurse at a school for deaf children.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, developmental disabilities.

Thanks so much for sharing your supportive comments!

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Specializes in Pediatrics, developmental disabilities.
I graduated with a deaf nurse. The college provided someone to come and sign for her for the entirety of the program. She could read lips really well. Since she had to watch lips or her signer, she couldn't take her own notes, so the university paid one student per class to scribe notes for her. She won just about every academic and nursing award we had to offer. Last I heard, she was a school nurse at a school for deaf children.

Thanks so much for sharing. What a perfect job for her!

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Specializes in Pediatrics, developmental disabilities.
This absolutely infuriates me. I have been a nurse for over a decade, but when I told my audiologist I wanted to go to nursing school, she did nothing but discourage me and tell me I couldn't do it. My audiologist! Thankfully I decided to go anyway, and I graduated with a 3.9 gpa. Good for this nurse for fighting back. I only wish she could have sued that school for a lot more money and attention. This is inexcusable and disgusting. I hope she goes on to become successful in her career.

Bravo to you!. Where do you work? What type of setting? Did you need accommodation in nursing school?

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this brings tears to my eyes. its so unfair!

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Specializes in Nurse's Aide.

I cannot believe how inconsiderate and disrespectful this college was to the student's disability. They were wrong when they booted her out of the program. It makes me angry that there are people like that who can't be understanding and provide the necessary tools this student needed. I am glad this student fought back and stood her ground. She deserves all the success that she gets and there are by far better schools that can accommodate her needs.

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Specializes in retired LTC.
I cannot believe how inconsiderate and disrespectful this college was to the student's disability. They were wrong when they booted her out of the program. It makes me angry that there are people like that who can't be understanding and provide the necessary tools this student needed. I am glad this student fought back and stood her ground. She deserves all the success that she gets and there are by far better schools that can accommodate her needs.
I can't believe how dumb and out-of-touch with reality that school was. I can't believe that the school didn't have a team of knowledgeable legal eagles available with whom to confer re this student.

They sound like they existed in feudal Dark Ages. It makes me wonder about other areas where they might be disregarding disabled students' rights. Or other areas of non-disabled students' rights.

Like PP commented, I'm also glad that the student fought back. Good luck to her personally & professionally.

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